Chinese Materia Medica

Dr. Liang (Ocean)

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Part 1: General Discussion

Chapter 1: Introduction to CMM Classics in Successive

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Origin
The emergence and clinical application of Chinese Materia
Medica (CMM) has a long history. For several thousand years, it
has been the major means for the Chinese nation to prevent and
treat diseases, and to cultivate life, rehabilitate and preserve
health.
In the process of the formation and development of the Chinese
nation, there has been mergence of various ethnic groups for
many times. As far as the Han and Tang Dynasties, CMM has
spread beyond China's boundaries into many neighboring
countries, such as Japan, Korea, Vietnam, and has been accepted
and utilized; Therefore, CMM belongs not only to the Chinese
nation, but also is shared by other nations.

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Concept
CMMs are the medicinals used under the guidance of traditional
Chinese medicine (TCM) theories to prevent and treat diseases of
human body and mind, to cultivate life and preserve health.
CMM includes:
• Natural products
• Chemical products
• Biological products

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Concept
For most of CMMs are from plants, there has been a saying that
“plants are the root of CMM.”As a result, the CMM has been
called běn cǎo (herbal medicine, 本草) since ancient times.
Some think that CMM is only comprised of natural medicinals,
that is, medicinals coming from the natural world, such as plants,
animals and minerals, and excluding the chemical products which
are manual extracted or chemosynthetic.
In fact, some of the CMMs are obtained through chemical
reactions, such as ling sha and sheng yao.
Western medicine also includes some natural products, such as
fan xie ye and shi gao.
To conclude, natural medicinals are neither the characteristic nor
the synonym of CMM.

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Confusing concept
Traditional Chinese medicinal materials are the natural
products, such as plants, animals and minerals, which can be used
as raw materials for CMM and have undertaken simple
processing, such as cleaning and drying, but still need further
processing and preparing.

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Confusing concept
Decoction pieces refer to the prescription medicinals that can be
used directly in clinic or for the production of preparations after
traditional Chinese medicinal materials are processed and
prepared. They are convenient for decoction, hence the name.
Most of them are in solid form, including flaky, blocky,
segmental, granule and powder forms. Some are in semi-fluid or
liquid form.

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Confusing concept
Crude drugs, a term in modern pharmaceutical science, refer to
the medicinals that come from the animals and plants in the
natural world and can be used as medicinals directly without
extraction. Most CMMs belong to it.
Herbal medicines refer to some medicinals that are handed down
only in some local areas and are not widely used all over China.
Though their processing and preparing are less standard, they still
belong to CMM.

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Confusing concept
Chinese herbal medicines are the general term for Chinese
medicinals and herbal medicines. Generally speaking, Chinese
medicinals, herbal medicines and Chinese herbal medicine are
collectively known as Chinese medicinals

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Confusing concept
Ethnomedicines refer to the medicinals which are used
habitually by the Chinese minorities and which bear features of
the minorities’ medicinal science and have distinct regional
characteristics, such as the Tibet medicine, the Mongolia
medicine and the Dai medicine. Along with CMM, they are also
important parts of the traditional medicine in China.

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Confusing concept
Chinese patent medicines are the ready-made medicaments of
Chinese compound formula or simple formula, including the
dosage forms of pill, powder, paste and pellet. Of course, they are
also an important part of the traditional medicine in China

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本草（běn cǎo）
Chinese medicinals was called běn cǎo (materia medica) in
ancient times, and Chinese materia (or the study of Chinese
medicinals) is the name of the modern discipline relating to běn
cǎo research.
It is a discipline focusing on the basic theories of CMM and its
sources, growing areas, collection, processing, properties,
efficacies, and laws of clinical applications.

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Chapter 1
General Discussion

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CMM classics
Shen Nong's Classic of the Materia Medica, Classic of Materia
Medica
神农本草经 (Shen Nong Ben Cao Jing)
• It is the earliest treatise on herbalism
• It reflects the biggest pharmaceutical achievement in Qin and
Han Dynasties (221 B.C. to 220 A.D.)
• One of the four great classics of CMM
• It describes:
➢ Four natures
➢ Five flavors
➢ Toxicity
➢ Combination principles
➢ Principles of applying materia medica
based on syndrome differentiation
➢ Methods of administration
➢ Formula forms (dosage form) 14
CMM classics
Collective Commentaries on the Classic of Materia Medica
本草经集注 (Běn Cǎo jīng JíZhù)
• It creates the method of classifying medicinal materials
according to their natural attributes
• It attaches notes to each article of Shen Nong's Classic of the
Materia Medica
• It supplements a great deal of new information:
➢ Collection
➢ Identification
➢ Processing
➢ Preparations
➢ Rescuing poisoned patients
➢ Compatibility
➢ Food prohibitions
• It creates the idea of “using the same materia
medica to treat many diseases” 15
CMM classics
Newly Revised Materia Medica, Tang Materia Medica
新修本草 (Xin Xiu Ben Cao), 唐本草 (Tang Ben Cao)
• Earliest officially compiled treatise on materia medica
• First pharmacopeia in the world (659 A.D.)
• It consists of three parts:
➢ Medicinal pictures
➢ Illustrations
➢ Materia medica

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CMM classics
The Grand Compendium of Materia Medica, The Grand
Compendium
本草纲目 (Ben Cao Gang Mu), 纲目 (Gang Mu)
• It consists of 52 volumes
• It records 1 892 medicinals
• 1 160 redrawn pictures
• 11 096 attached formulas
• 374 newly-added medicinals
It collects all the medicinal
achievements of China before 16th
century, also integrates knowledge of
many disciplines such as botany,
zoology, mineral and metallurgy.

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