The most well-known Chinese herbal is the Ben Cao Gang Mu compiled by Li Shi-Zhen in the later part of the 16th century (1590 AD). This work is considered the most extensive work on materia medica ever compiled by a single author. It took Li 38 years to complete. It was based on his own medical and herbal expenence and on data from earlier herbals, such as the well-known 11th-century herbal named Zheng Lei Ben Cao. Li's herbal describes 1892 drugs (with 1110 drawings), including 11,096 prescriptions, for treating hundreds of illnesses, ranging from the common cold to drunkenness and food poisoning (Chen 1982). The prescriptions in this herbal have recently been categorized and published as a separate volume, making the information much easier to access (Shaanxi 1983). Now a researcher no longer needs to laboriously search the original herbal to locate a treatment for a particular condition. All one has to do is to look up the index in the new book.

When the Ben Cao Gang Mu was introduced overseas in the 17th century, it was promptly translated into numerous languages, including Latin, French, German, English, Russian, Japanese and Korean, indicating its usefulness and importance in the field of materia medica.

Zhong Yao Da Ci Dian (Encyclopedia of Chinese Materia Medica)
Although several well-known herbals had appeared since the Ben Cao Gang Mu, none can be compared to the Encyclopedia in scope and depth. This encyclopedia was compiled by the Jiangsu Institute of New Medicine and was published in 1977. It is the most extensive work ever, in the field of materia medica, consisting of three volumes, one of which is an appendix/index, and comprising a total of 3518 pages. It describes 5767 drugs with 4500 drawings, many in great detail. Of these, over 4800 are of plant origin, the remaining being animal and mineral drugs. In keeping with modern scientific progress, this modern work has many modern features. The information on each long-used medicinal typically contains the following:

Synonyms
Drug Source [plant family, species, and part(s) used]
Description of Plant Species [including habitat and distribution]
Cultivation Method(s)
Collection [including initial treatment]
Crude Drug Description [including production regions]
Chemical Composition
Pharmacology

Processing
Traditional Taste Properties
Traditional Channel Affiliations
Traditional Properties and Uses
Dosages and Methods of Administration Precautions
Selected Traditional Prescriptions Clinical Reports
Quotations/Comments from Traditional Herbals or Medical Treatises
Historical Identification and Sources

 

The modern botanical, chemical, pharmacological and clinical data included in this book are from the world literature up to and including 1972. It provides the reader with concise information on most Chinese medicinals currently used in traditional medicine. The detailed Appendix/Index allows the researcher to identify drugs of a particular pharmacologic category or drugs that treat a particular disease; it also provides chemical structures of compounds reported present or isolated from drugs described in the Encyclopedia.