Wei Collection, Upper Volume Radical: Bamboo (zhú) Ruò Kangxi stroke count: 15 Page 889, Entry 33 Pronounced ruò. Guangyun (Expanded Rhymes): Bamboo sheath. Shuowen Jiezi (Explaining Simple and Compounding Characters): In Chu, the skin of bamboo is called ruò. Bencao (Materia Medica): Ruò is the name of a plant. Also called Liao leaf. It grows in the level marshes of the south. Its roots and stalks resemble small bamboo, and its leaves and sheaths resemble reeds. The surface of the leaf is green while the back is pale; it is flexible and tough. Old and new leaves replace one another, and it remains green throughout the four seasons. Men take the leaves to make hats, and women use them to line the soles of shoes. Also, according to Jiyun (Collection of Rhymes), pronounced xiá. A disease of bamboo. One source says it refers to bamboo skin. According to Jiyun (Collection of Rhymes), sometimes written in a variant form (ruò).