The Etymological Study of Mudan and Shaoyao in Chinese Herbal Medicine (Part 2)--Historical Exegetics of Shaoyao--

Abstract

Shaoyao, the Chinese name of the herbaceous peony, appeared in the Classic of Poetry or Shijing. Shijing　was compiled much earlier than the third century BC when peony was discussed in the botanical treatise by Theophrastus in ancient Greece. However, several Confucian scholars questioned what shaoyao in Shijing actually referred to. In addition, shaoyao was considered to be a fragrant grass and was often added to food as a spice in the Han dynasty, whereas the peony is hardly ever used in that way today. In the three kingdom dynasty, Lu Ji remarked: Since the medicinal shaoyao does not have a particular scent, shaoyao [of Shijing] cannot be identified.”These old descriptions suggest that they may have used a different plant as shaoyao in early China, and accordingly it allows us to reflect on shaoyao in the old Chinese medical texts. This paper traces various hypotheses historically with attention paid to regional differences and ages. The results, confirm that shaoyao has most certainly been a name of the peony since the six dynasties when shaoyao was prized as an ornament plant. Before the six dynasties, four candidates of shaoyao can be listed: the peony itself, water chestnuts (Eleocharis dulcis), magnolia and Szechuan lovage (Ligusticum wallichii), though for all four, sufficient and definitive evidence is lacking.