{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,22]],"date-time":"2026-09-22T00:24:30Z","timestamp":1790036670630,"version":"4.0.1"},"reference-count":27,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,21]],"date-time":"2026-07-21T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1784592000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/100020595","name":"National Science and Technology Council","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["NSTC 114-2113-M-A49-019"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["NSTC 114-2113-M-A49-019"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100020595","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/100020595","name":"National Science and Technology Council","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["NSTC 114-2321-B-A49-001"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["NSTC 114-2321-B-A49-001"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100020595","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/100020595","name":"National Science and Technology Council","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["NYCUKMU-115-I001"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["NYCUKMU-115-I001"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100020595","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/100020595","name":"National Science and Technology Council","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["NYCUKMU-115-I004"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["NYCUKMU-115-I004"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100020595","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Pharmacol."],"abstract":"<jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Background<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      The\n                      <jats:italic>Bencao Gangmu<\/jats:italic>\n                      (Compendium of Materia Medica, 1596), by Li Shizhen (1518\u20131593), is one of the most comprehensive pre-modern pharmacopoeias in the history of traditional medicine. Comprising 1,892 drug species organized into the inorganic, plant, and animal kingdoms, this foundational text of Chinese traditional pharmacology documents the therapeutic uses, morphological descriptions, and ecological contexts of medicinal substances\u2014roughly 175\u2013300 years before the formalized systems of Western taxonomy and natural history were established.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Aim<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>This study examines the structural and epistemological parallels between Li Shizhen\u2019s four-tiered classification system and the taxonomic frameworks of Carolus Linnaeus (1707\u20131778) and Charles Darwin (1809\u20131882), evaluates the historical transmission of the Compendium to Europe, and argues for integrating this text into modern medical and scientific education curricula.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      A comparative historical-textual analysis was conducted using the 1672 critical edition of the\n                      <jats:italic>Bencao Gangmu<\/jats:italic>\n                      , available through the National Central Library (Taiwan) and the Chinese Text Project digital archive (\n                      <jats:ext-link>ctext.org<\/jats:ext-link>\n                      ), along with Open CourseWare materials from National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University. Li Shizhen\u2019s four-tiered organizational hierarchy was evaluated against the Linnaean taxonomic system and the theory of evolution by natural selection.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Li Shizhen\u2019s classification system (kingdom \u2192 department \u2192 category \u2192 species) predates the Linnaean taxonomic hierarchy by about 175 years and reflects empirically and morphologically grounded groupings consistent with what is now recognized as alpha taxonomy. The Compendium\u2019s sequential ordering of organisms, attention to intraspecific variation, empiricist critical methodology, and ecologically grounded groupings collectively exhibit structural and epistemological features analogous to\u2014though not mechanistically anticipating\u2014elements of Darwinian natural history. These parallels are structural and analogical; the Compendium does not articulate a theory of evolutionary transformation, and its sequential ordering reflects a traditional Chinese cosmological framework rather than evolutionary genealogy.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      The\n                      <jats:italic>Bencao Gangmu<\/jats:italic>\n                      is a significant contribution to the global history of systematic natural inquiry, and its classificatory achievements merit scholarly recognition alongside those of Linnaeus and Darwin. Incorporating it into medical and scientific education curricula would deepen students\u2019 understanding of the diverse cultural foundations of pharmacology, taxonomy, and evidence-based medical reasoning.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fphar.2026.1867126","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,21]],"date-time":"2026-07-21T05:34:30Z","timestamp":1784612070000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["Before Linnaeus and Darwin: the hierarchical taxonomy of Li Shizhen\u2019s Bencao Gangmu"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"17","author":[{"given":"Tung-Hu","family":"Tsai","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Chinese Medicine, College of Medicine, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University","place":["Taipei, Taiwan"]},{"name":"School of Pharmacy, College of Pharmacy, Kaohsiung Medical University","place":["Kaohsiung, Taiwan"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,21]]},"reference":[{"key":"B1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.4324\/9781315771724","volume-title":"Medical Humanities and Medical Education: How the Medical Humanities Can Shape Better Doctors","author":"Bleakley","year":"2015"},{"key":"B2","article-title":"China illustrata: das europ\u00e4ische Chinaverst\u00e4ndnis im Spiegel des 16. bis 18","author":"Boym","year":"1656"},{"key":"B3","volume-title":"Lidai Yijia \u2013 Li Shizhen [Historical Physicians \u2013 Li Shizhen]","year":"2026"},{"key":"B4","unstructured":"Bencao gangmu \u2013 compendium of Materia medica\n          \n          \n          2026"},{"key":"B5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.5962\/bhl.title.82303","volume-title":"On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life","author":"Darwin","year":"1859"},{"key":"B6","article-title":"Th\u00e9orie \u00e9l\u00e9mentaire de la botanique, ou exposition des principes de la classification naturelle","author":"de Candolle","year":"1813","journal-title":"D\u00e9terville"},{"key":"B7","volume-title":"Linnaeus: Nature and Nation","author":"Koerner","year":"1999"},{"key":"B8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1525\/9780520411777","volume-title":"Reason and Experience: The Representation of Natural Order in the Work of Carl Von Linn\u00e9","author":"Larson","year":"1971"},{"key":"B9","unstructured":"The bencao gangmu, sourced from the national central Library\u2019s authoritative 1672 edition, is accessible via the national central library\n          \n          \n            \n              Li\n              S.\n            \n          \n          \n          1596"},{"key":"B10","first-page":"30876132","article-title":"Species plantarum, exhibentes plantas rite cognitas, ad genera relatas, cum differentiis specificis, nominibus trivialibus, synonymis selectis, locis natalibus, secundum systema sexuale digestas","volume":"77","author":"Linnaeus","year":"1753","journal-title":"Laurentius Salvius"},{"key":"B11","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1007\/978-3-031-24723-1","article-title":"The global circulation of Chinese materia medica, 1700\u20131949","volume-title":"A Microhistory of the Caterpillar Fungus","author":"Lu","year":"2023"},{"key":"B12","volume-title":"The Growth of Biological Thought: Diversity, Evolution, and Inheritance","author":"Mayr","year":"1982"},{"key":"B13","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"541","DOI":"10.1016\/j.shpsc.2007.06.010","article-title":"Collection and collation: theory and practice of Linnaean botany","volume":"38","author":"M\u00fcller-Wille","year":"2007","journal-title":"Stud. 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