The Bencao gangmu, known in English as the Compendium of Materia Medica or Great Pharmacopoeia,[1] is an encyclopedic gathering of medicine, natural history, and Chinese herbology compiled and edited by Li Shizhen and published in the late 16th century, during the Ming dynasty.

[5][6] The title, translated as "Materia Medica, Arranged according to Drug Descriptions and Technical Aspects",[7] uses two Chinese compound words.

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').

For every herb there are entries on their names, a detailed description of their appearance and odor, nature, medical function, side effects, recipes, etc.

[5] Li also claimed that otters are always male[4] and that the Moupin langur is ten-foot (three-metre) tall, has backwards feet and can be caught when it draws its upper lip over its eyes.

[citation needed] The text includes information on pharmaceutics, biology, chemistry, geography, mineralogy, geology, history, and even mining and astronomy.