The Complete Guide to the Meaning of the Forget-Sorrow Grass Flower Language and Its Legendary Stories

The scientific name of the Forget-Sorrow Grass is daylily, also known as Hemerocallis, golden needle vegetable, Hemerocallis flower, etc. It is a perennial herbaceous plant of the genus Hemerocallis in the Liliaceae family, with short rhizomes and thick spindle-shaped fleshy roots. In gardens, it is mostly planted in clumps or in flower borders and along roadsides. It is cultivated throughout the north and south of China. Quxian County in Sichuan is known as “the Hometown of Chinese Daylily.” Below, let us take a look at the flower language and legends of the Forget-Sorrow Grass!

Common Names of the Forget-Sorrow Grass

What people often call the Forget-Sorrow Grass is actually the daylily, and the Forget-Sorrow Grass has many common names. Common ones include golden needle, daylily, Yi Nan Cao, Liao Chou, deer arrow, tiger lily, golden needle vegetable, Hemerocallis flower, brain-boosting vegetable, calming vegetable, green scallion flower, deer scallion, Sichuan grass flower, Wang Yu, Dan Ji, etc. According to the Bencao Zhu, “Hemerocallis is sweet in taste, makes people joyful, and brings happiness that makes one forget sorrow.” According to the Classic of Poetry, in ancient times a woman, because her husband had gone on a distant expedition, planted Hemerocallis at home to relieve her sorrow and forget her worries. From then on, people called it the “Forget-Sorrow Grass.”

The Flower Language of the Forget-Sorrow Grass

1. Flower Language One: The Forget-Sorrow Grass is China's mother flower, and its flower language is loving your mother forever, great maternal love, and a kind mother.

2. Flower Language Two: Hemerocallis is also called Yi Nan. Legend says that in ancient times, if a woman wore Yi Nan, she would give birth to a boy, implying many sons and much blessing.

3. Flower Language Three: The Forget-Sorrow Grass represents the forgetting of love, forgetting all unhappy things, and letting go of sorrow.

The Legend of the Forget-Sorrow Grass

It is said that before the Daze Township Uprising, Chen Sheng's family was very poor. Because there was no rice at home to cook, he had to go out begging to get by. In addition, due to lack of nutrition, he suffered from generalized edema, with unbearable swelling and pain.

One day, Chen Sheng begged at the home of a mother and daughter surnamed Huang. Old Mrs. Huang was softhearted. Seeing Chen Sheng's pitiful appearance, she let him into the house and steamed three big bowls of Hemerocallis flowers for him to eat. To Chen Sheng at that time, the Hemerocallis flowers that could relieve hunger and cold were so sweet and delicious, no less than rare delicacies. He wolfed them down, and in a short while all three big bowls of Hemerocallis flowers went into his stomach. A few days later, the edema over his whole body subsided. Chen Sheng was very grateful to the Huang mother and daughter and said he would repay them in the future.

After the Daze Township Uprising, when Chen Sheng declared himself king, he did not forget the Huang mother and daughter. To thank them for their kindness, he invited them into the palace. Every day banquets were laid out, but countless fine dishes and delicacies could not stir Chen Sheng's appetite. Suddenly, Chen Sheng remembered the delicious taste of Hemerocallis flowers from those years and asked Old Mrs. Huang to steam another bowl for him.

Old Mrs. Huang picked some more Hemerocallis flowers and steamed them herself before giving them to Chen Sheng. Chen Sheng picked up the bowl, took just one bite, and found it hard to swallow. He repeatedly said, “What is going on? The taste is not as good as it was back then. This is too strange.” Old Mrs. Huang said, “Actually there is nothing strange about it. It is truly that when hungry, Hemerocallis is fragrant, but when accustomed to wine and meat, Hemerocallis is bitter!” These words shamed Chen Sheng so much that he fell to his knees and bowed again and again. Old Mrs. Huang repeatedly said, “You must not, you must not,” and hurriedly helped Chen Sheng up.

From then on, Chen Sheng kept the Huang mother and daughter in the palace to specifically plant Hemerocallis and often ate it. At the same time, he gave Hemerocallis two other names, one being “Forget-Sorrow Grass” and the other being “daylily.” Because Old Mrs. Huang's daughter was named Jin Zhen, and the leaves of Hemerocallis look like needles, people also called it “golden needle vegetable.” Once the news spread, people used Hemerocallis roots one after another to treat edema. Later, it was discovered by physicians and, after repeated use, became a commonly used traditional Chinese medicine.