A Systematic Study on Confused Species of Chinese Materia Medica in the Hong Kong Market

Abstract

As more and more people worldwide begin using Chinese herbs, authentication of these herbs becomes an increasingly critical, international problem. Mistakes, misidentification, or willful deception can cause illness and even death. Questionable authenticity with regard to Chinese herbs arises for a number of historical, geographical and nomenclatural reasons, which will be described in this paper. The current situation in the Hong Kong market and some suggestions for alleviating the problem are also discussed. Key words: Chinese medicine, Identification, Medicinal herbs, Pharmacognosy

Voyage of Ben Cao, Part II: Development of Chinese Medicinal Specimens in the British Museum

“…Customary differences between the northern and southern regions of China are reflected in the parts used for medicinal purposes of some plants in the observed specimens. 4 Within this collection, the Chinese names are not standardized, meaning that a number of folk medicines used in southern regions can also be seen, such as Mu Bie Zi (木鳖子 Semen Momordicae), Zi Cao Rong (紫草茸 Lacciferi Secretio), and Chu Shi Zi (楮实 子 Fructus Broussonetiae). Many characters are written in shorthand to save strokes, such as Lai Fu Zi (莱菔子 Semen Raphani) and Zhu Ling ( 猪苓 Polyporus) (Fig.…”

The Catalogue of the Westhoff Collection of Chinese Materia Medica (C. 1870): Evidence of Interaction between a Chinese Medicine Practitioner and the Dutch in Indonesia

“…Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has a long history, with thousands of years of practice, experimentation and adaptation. Although most of these ancient practices are continued nowadays, Chinese materia medica (CMM), including product names, natural ingredients, processing methods and clinical applications have also changed over time (Brand et al, 2017;Jia et al, 2021;Jia et al, 2022;Zhao, Z. et al, 2006). A tremendous body of TCM treatises has been compiled in the past centuries, which not only recorded the medicinal materials' taxonomical identity, the place of origin but the methods of collection, processing, preservation and identification (Teng, 2019).…”