虎掌和天南星属种不同

对《本草纲目》虎掌和天南星记载的正误进行了订正,并考证了《神农本草经》的虎掌为天南星科植物掌叶半夏,《开宝本草》的天南星才是同科天南星属植物。虎掌南星为优质的道地药材,一直大量栽培和销售,故建议载入新版中国药典。

A Comment on Two Medicinal Aroids Huzhang and Tiananxing

An original error on Huzhang and Tiannanxing in Li Shizhen's "Bencao Gangmu" (Compendium of Materia Medica, 1596) is corrected in this paper. The conclusion is that Huzhang in "Shen Nong's Materia" (around 200) should be the tuber of Pinellia pedatisecta and Tiannanxing in "Kaibao Bencao" (974) the tuber of Arisaema heterophyllum but they were merged or confused by Li Shizhen. The former, in fact, has been cultivated, marketed, exported and used medically for its high quality, but it has disappeared from herbal literatures owing to Lis error. Therefore, the above-mentioned correction should be accepted in the next edition of Pharmacopoea of the pepole's Republic of China.