Shennong Bencaojing

Shennong Bencaojing (also Classic of the Materia Medica or Shen-nong's Herbal Classics[1] and Shen-nung Pen-tsao Ching; Chinese: 神農本草經) is a Chinese book on agriculture and medicinal plants, traditionally attributed to Shennong.

Researchers believe the text is a compilation of oral traditions, written between the first and second centuries AD.

[2][1][3] The original text no longer exists, but is said to have been composed of three volumes containing 365 entries on medicaments and their description.

The first volume of the treatise included 120 drugs harmless to humans, the "stimulating properties": lingzhi,[1] ginseng, jujube, the orange, Chinese cinnamon, Eucommia bark, cannabis, or the root of liquorice (Glycyrrhiza uralensis).

In the last volume there are 125 entries corresponding to substances which have a strong or violent action on physiological functions and are often poisonous.