Comprehensive textual research on concept, content and function of Chinese yew

Abstract

Chinese yew is a medicinal plant which has the largest planted area, better economic effects and ecological benefits in our country. People have insufficient appreciation of centuries-old historical document and abundant cultural connotation of Chinese yew, because Chinese yew had no name in ancient times and some expressions of western countries are still cited at present. Therefore, this paper did a great deal of analysis and reference works focusing on synonym and byname of ancient Chinese yew. Excavation and classification of historical documents of Chinese yew from ancient classics and bibliography had been done by studying 3 503 books, about billions of words been recorded in the Si Ku Quan Shu. These researches made up for simple and inadequate contents of many large tool books, like Chinese materia medica and traditional Chinese medicine, and so on. At the same time, in order to change the situation of no name, uncertain channel tropism, irregular functions of Chinese yew, its property and flavor, channel tropism, effects and functions had been summarized. History of the tumor treatment of Chinese yew had been traced back to the time of Tang Dynasty and this was almost 1 200 years earlier than western countries.