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Shu bencao 蜀本草

Jan 8, 2013 © Ulrich Theobald

Shu bencao 蜀本草, original title Chongguang Yinggong bencao 重廣英公本草 „Revised and enlarged pharmacopoeia of Master Ying (成书时主持修撰的是英国公李勣)“ or Shu Baoguang Yinggong bencao 蜀雹廣英公本草, is a pharmacological book on drugs from the province of Sichuan. It was written by Han Baosheng 韓保升, on order of Meng Chang 孟昶, emperor of the Later Shu dynasty that ruled over Sichuan in the early 10th century. The book of 20 juan, compiled between 939 and 964, is a commentary and revision of the book XXX Xinxiu bencao 新修本草. The enlarged parts mainly deal with drugs exclusively found in the region of Sichuan, as Stephania epigaea Lo (diburong 地不容), Clinopodium polycephalum Wu & Hsuan (denglongcao 燈籠草), Lindera spec. (shanhujiao 山胡椒), the Cherokee Rose (jinyingzi 金櫻子, Rosa laevigata Michx.), common purslane (machixian 馬齒莧, Portulaca oleracea L.) or caper spurge (xusuizi 續隨子, Euphorbia lathyris L.). The text is lost, but numerous fragments are quoted in the Song period book Jiayou bencao 嘉祐本草 and the large pharmacopoeias Zhenglei bencao 證類本草 and Bencao gangmu 本草綱目.

Sources:
Sichuan baike quanshu, 733.