Chapter 34 Chapter Nine: The Development of Animal and Plant Taxonomy Research in Ming and Qing Dynasties

"Rescue Famine Materia Medica" (AD 1406) is a local flora describing wild plants in the early 15th century in my country.Combined with food, mainly for famine relief.The author Zhu Huan (1360-1425 A.D.) was the fifth son of Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang.He is erudite and talented, enthusiastic about plant research, and concerned about people's lives.In view of successive years of famines and people's livelihood, he collected plants extensively in his fief (Kaifeng, Henan) and conducted planting experiments, and finally wrote a special book. The whole book is divided into upper and lower volumes.There are 414 species of plants recorded, each with exquisite woodcut illustrations.Among them, there are 138 kinds of herbal medicines from past dynasties, and 276 new kinds.From the classification, it is divided into: 245 kinds of grasses, 80 kinds of woods, 20 kinds of rice and cereals, 23 kinds of fruits, and 46 kinds of vegetables, which are cataloged by department.At the same time, according to the edible parts, it is further divided into edible leaves, edible roots, and edible fruits, etc. There are: 237 kinds of edible leaves, 61 kinds of edible fruits, and 43 kinds of edible leaves and fruits; There are 28 kinds of edible roots, 16 kinds of edible roots and leaves, five kinds of edible roots and fruits, three kinds of edible roots and shoots, two kinds of edible roots and flowers; five kinds of edible flowers, five kinds of edible flowers and leaves, Two species are edible for flower leaves and fruits, two kinds are edible for leaf skin and fruits; three kinds are edible for stems, one is edible for bamboo shoots, and one is edible for both bamboo shoots and fruits.Among them, herbaceous wild grains, including barnyardgrass, brome, coix [yiyi meaning] kernels, weeds, wild millet, and oats, which are classified in the edible part, are all grasses; vetch, lentils, and soybeans in the rice valley Beans, broad beans, and mung beans are all leguminous plants.Arranging the same kind together is not only convenient for identification, but also reflects the close relationship between them.

"Rescue Famine Materia Medica" has a detailed description of plant morphology.Pay attention to the stem color, thorns, and tendrils of the plant; the shape of the leaves, the way they grow, and the stipules; the shape, color, number of petals, and even pistils of the inflorescences and flowers; the types, sizes, and colors of fruits and seeds.For example, remembering Alisma: "The common name is water (草下达) [ta ta] dish. It grows in Runan Chize and Qizhou, Shandong, Shaanxi, Jianghuai, and Hanzhong is better. Today, it is everywhere near the water. Clusters of seedlings and leaves... ...its stems are lined. There are small white flowers between the tips, small and firm, green and thin,...", highlighting the characteristics of monocotyledonous plants with three numbers of flowers and parallel veins (Figure 23); The green and broken clusters are like Artemisia twigs, and the leaves are like Artemisia annua leaves... There are more than a hundred flower heads on each branch, which form the same nest, and the white flowers are like canopies. The knots are half the size of millet, and they are yellowish-brown." Highlights Umbelliferae of compound umbels.It is very subtle to distinguish leguminous plants such as broad bean, Huihui bean, and (dou Lao) [lao Lao] bean from the flower structure, color, growth part, and fruit shape.When describing the morphological characteristics of plants, some more definite terms are used, especially the terms related to the classification of inflorescences and fruits: such as "spike", "canopy shape", capsule [shuo Shuo] (fruit), follicle [gutu Gutu] (fruit) and so on, thus greatly improving the accuracy of classification description.This is also a great progress in the history of traditional plant taxonomy.Many illustrations in the book, such as thistle, plantain, sumac, sorbifolium, madder, dandelion, rabbit umbrella, etc. are very vivid.For example, the pictures of Nepeta have square stems, many branches on the upper part, deeply divided pinnatis, lanceolate, and whorls, etc., all of which have reached a very precise level, which constitutes a major feature of this book (Figure 24).German botanist Breiter Schneider pointed out in 1881 that these illustrations predated European engravings by 70 years.British pharmacist Ibern solemnly introduced 10 pictures including Anthracite and Purslane into his monograph "Famine Foods Listed in Materia Medica for Famine Relief".The famous American historian of science Sutton praised: "Understanding the excellent tradition of Chinese artists, it is not difficult to understand the extremely exquisite illustrations of "Materia Medica for Relief of Famines." ("Introduction to the History of Science")

"Famine Relief Materia Medica" was written with the main purpose of saving famine.The processing methods for the consumption of poisonous plants are also documented.For example: Zhangliugen is a poisonous plant of Phytolaraceae, which can be sterilized by steaming with soybean milk; celandine is a poisonous plant of Papaveraceae, which can be boiled with leaves and pure soil, soaked in the soil overnight, and washed with water. Clean, adjust food with oil and salt.The adsorption of pure soil is used here, which is actually the preliminary application of the principle of adsorption and separation in phytochemistry.

Under the influence of "Rescue Famine Materia Medica", "Wild Cookbook" (AD 1524), "Rucao Bian" (AD 1582), "Wild Vegetable Bolu" (AD 1622) (Fig. Most of the monographs such as "Wildness Spectrum" (1642 A.D.) have text and pictures, and the writing forms are similar, but the content has developed. "Materia Medica for Relief of Famines" was spread to Japan in the 17th century and was reprinted many times, which had a great influence. The terms "capsule (fruit)" and "follicle (fruit)" created and used in "Rescue Famine Materia Medica" were adopted not only in my country but also by Japanese botanists, and are still in use today.