About
As a phono-semantic compound, 苈 (and its traditional form 藶) features the grass radical 艹 on top to classify it as a plant, with the lower component 历 (simplified from 歷) providing the pronunciation. The character was specifically created to name a medicinal herb, Draba nemorosa, whose seeds are used in traditional medicine for their diuretic and expectorant effects. Consequently, its meaning is largely confined to pharmacological and medical texts.