{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,21]],"date-time":"2026-09-21T14:17:45Z","timestamp":1790000265500,"version":"4.0.1"},"reference-count":22,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,21]],"date-time":"2026-09-21T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1789948800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100020950","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\/501100020950","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Pharmacol."],"abstract":"\n The\n \n B\u011bnc\n \n \n \n \n a<\/mml:mi>\n \u02c7<\/mml:mo>\n <\/mml:mover>\n <\/mml:mrow>\n <\/mml:math>\n <\/jats:inline-formula>\n o G\u0101ngm\u00f9\n <\/jats:italic>\n (Compendium of Materia Medica, 1596) by L\n \n \n \n \n \u0131<\/mml:mi>\n \u02c7<\/mml:mo>\n <\/mml:mover>\n <\/mml:mrow>\n <\/mml:math>\n <\/jats:inline-formula>\n Sh\u00edzh\u0113n (1518\u20131593) introduced a five-class botanical classification and nomenclature system for its vegetable section (C\u00e0i B\u00f9, volumes 26\u201328), replacing the three-grade quality hierarchy that had organized all earlier Chinese pharmacopeias and marking a departure in the taxonomic history of Chinese natural history. The five classes\u2014H\u016bnx\u012bn L\u00e8i (pungent aromatic, 32 taxa), R\u00f3uhu\u00e1 L\u00e8i (soft and smooth, 41 taxa), Lu\n \n \n \n \n o<\/mml:mi>\n \u02c7<\/mml:mo>\n <\/mml:mover>\n <\/mml:mrow>\n <\/mml:math>\n <\/jats:inline-formula>\n c\u00e0i L\u00e8i (fruit vegetables, 11 taxa), Shu\n \n \n \n \n \u0131<\/mml:mi>\n \u02c7<\/mml:mo>\n <\/mml:mover>\n <\/mml:mrow>\n <\/mml:math>\n <\/jats:inline-formula>\n c\u00e0i L\u00e8i (aquatic vegetables, 6 taxa), and Zh\u012b'\u011br L\u00e8i (fungi and mushrooms, 15 taxa)\u2014are distinguished by compound sensory, morphological, and ecological criteria and together comprise 105 edible taxa. This review, grounded in the ethnobotany of traditional Chinese medicine, examines the intellectual foundations of this classification system, its criteria and internal logic, its taxonomic apparatus (nomenclature conventions, etymology, synonymy, and inter-section transfers), and its relationship to earlier Chinese natural history traditions and the contemporaneous emergence of Linnaean systematic botany in Europe. Particular attention is given to the classification of fungi within the vegetable section, the documentation of geographic origins, the handling of introduced species, and the distinction between morphological and functional logic in the C\u00e0i B\u00f9. L\n \n \n \n \n \u0131<\/mml:mi>\n \u02c7<\/mml:mo>\n <\/mml:mover>\n <\/mml:mrow>\n <\/mml:math>\n <\/jats:inline-formula>\n Sh\u00edzh\u0113n\u2019s five-class system is shown to be a principled, internally consistent taxonomic framework that, while not phylogenetic, remains coherent within the functional and culinary ontology of its time.\n <\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3389\/fphar.2026.1946442","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,21]],"date-time":"2026-09-21T13:31:15Z","timestamp":1789997475000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["The vegetable section of B\u011bnca\u02c7o G\u0101ngm\u00f9: classification architecture, taxonomic logic, and nomenclatural practice"],"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":"Institute of Traditional Medicine, College of Medicine, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University","place":["Taipei, Taiwan"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,21]]},"reference":[{"key":"B1","first-page":"1","article-title":"Botanicon sinicum: notes on Chinese botany from native and Western sources","volume":"16","author":"Bretschneider","year":"1881","journal-title":"J. China Branch R. Asiat. Soc."},{"key":"B2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"323","DOI":"10.3390\/jof9030323","article-title":"Re-examination of the holotype of Ganoderma sichuanense (ganodermataceae, Polyporales) and a clarification of the identity of Chinese cultivated Lingzhi","volume":"9","author":"Du","year":"2023","journal-title":"J. Fungi"},{"key":"B3","volume-title":"Food Plants of China","author":"Hu","year":"2005"},{"key":"B4","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"56","DOI":"10.3390\/plants10010056","article-title":"Population structure and genetic diversity of Cucurbita moschata based on genome-wide high-quality SNPs","volume":"10","author":"Lee","year":"2021","journal-title":"Plants"},{"key":"B5","article-title":"B\u011bnc\u01ceo G\u0101ngm\u00f9 [Compendium of Material Medica]","author":"Li","year":"1596","journal-title":"S\u00eck\u00f9 Qu\u00e1nsh\u016b Recension (Qing Imperial Compilation, 1782), As Transcribed by Chin. Text Proj. Not 1596 Jinling First Edition"},{"key":"B6","article-title":"B\u011bnc\u01ceo G\u0101ngm\u00f9 [Compendium of Materia Medica]","author":"Li","year":"1672","journal-title":"Qing-dynasty (Kangxi-era) Reprint. Natl. Cent. Libr. (Taipei)"},{"key":"B7","first-page":"66","article-title":"Some reflections on the history of botanical knowledge in China","volume":"3","author":"M\u00e9taili\u00e9","year":"2007","journal-title":"Circumscribere Int. J. Hist. Sci."},{"key":"B8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.4159\/9780674054356","volume-title":"The Monkey and the Inkpot: Natural History and Its Transformations in Early Modern China. Cambridge, MA","author":"Nappi","year":"2009"},{"key":"B9","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"2101","DOI":"10.1111\/brv.12550","article-title":"Fungal evolution: diversity, taxonomy and phylogeny of the fungi","volume":"94","author":"Naranjo-Ortiz","year":"2019","journal-title":"Biol. 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Reprinted 1936\n \n \n \n Wu\n Q.-J.\n \n \n \n 1848"},{"key":"B22","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"241","DOI":"10.11646\/phytotaxa.186.5.1","article-title":"Species clarification of the most important and cultivated auricularia mushroom \u201cheimuer\u201d: evidence from morphological and molecular data","volume":"186","author":"Wu","year":"2014","journal-title":"Phytotaxa"}],"container-title":["Frontiers in Pharmacology"],"original-title":[],"link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.frontiersin.org\/articles\/10.3389\/fphar.2026.1946442\/full","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,21]],"date-time":"2026-09-21T13:31:19Z","timestamp":1789997479000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.frontiersin.org\/articles\/10.3389\/fphar.2026.1946442\/full"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,21]]},"references-count":22,"alternative-id":["10.3389\/fphar.2026.1946442"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/fphar.2026.1946442","relation":{},"ISSN":["1663-9812"],"issn-type":[{"value":"1663-9812","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,21]]},"article-number":"1946442"}}