Subject: New Bensky Materia Medica 3rd edition to be released in A

[Guest guest]

Todd-

 

I disagree with you on not needing Latin binomials for most herbs.

 

First, there is a substantial overlap in Chinese and Western herbs, and

binomials make sense so that practitioners can cross-reference their eastern and

western databases. (Although species alone may not account for different

actions- soils and mycorrhyzia also play a part.)

 

Secondly, as is practiced in more countries, Chinese herbs

are being carried by other herbal suppliers. Thus I can get both Ephedra

sinenses, folium and Ephedra nevadensis folium from Frontier and darn well

better

know that they have very different actions.

 

Similarly I have been told that Cimicifuga racemosa will substitute for

Cimicifuga foetida Sheng ma, in relaesing the exterior and venting rashes, but

Cimicifuga foetida (don't know about C. dahurica or Serrulata) does not

necessarily have the hormonal actions of Cimicifuga racemosa. (Cimicifuga is now

called

Actea in modern botanical parlance, btw.) The other types of Sheng ma may be

different and may be more hormonal. So yes, I want to know which species are

involved including the common substitutes and a notation on the differences.

 

 

There are far more herbs in the Chinese Materia Medica than in Bensky. With

the species reduction due to overharvesting and habitat loss, these herbs are

more and more being used in their own right, as substitutes or are being

investigated pharmaceutically and marketed. It is important to know about them

and

to be aware of the differences, subtle or not, in actions. And thus I want

them referenced, even as footnotes in a materia medica if they are being used..

 

 

And I'd want it to be current: so if Sheng ma is almost never Cimicifuga,

the Sheng ma listing should be on Serrulata xsp, with a discussion that the

classical formulas used Cimicifuga foetida which differs in specified respects.

And make the rhino horn the footnote, not the water buffalo horn.

 

 

I do use certain formulas with nontraditionally Chinese ingredients or parts

of Chinese herbs not referenced in Bensky. Terminalia arjuna cortex used in

Ayurveda is broader in action than Terminalia arjuna fructus (He zi) in cardiac

formulas but I have seen its Auyrvedic cardiac uses attributed to He zi

without backup. Certainly the part of the plant also needs to be referenced as

herbal use is internationalized, even if we move away from the dinosaur

pharmaceutical Latin..

 

But lets keep the binomials

 

Whether we test on them on national exams is a different issue altogether.

 

Karen S. Vaughan, L.Ac., MSTOM

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