Name
The Bencao Gangmu title, which Unschuld (1986:145) translates as "Materia Medica, Arranged according to Drug Descriptions and Technical Aspects," uses two Chinese compounds. Bencao (Pen-tsao; "roots and herbs; based on herbs, pharmacopeia, materia medica") combines ben (pen; 本 "root; origin; basis") and cao (tsao; 草 "grass; plant; herb"). Gangmu (Kang-mu; "detailed outline; table of contents") combines gang (kang; 綱 "main rope, hawser; main threads, essential principles") and mu (目 "eye; look; category, division").
The characters 綱 and 目 were later used as "class" and "order" respectively in biological classification.
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