Elanso

I occasionally get questions asking me to translate a herb name for them.

The list is in alphabetical order from PIN YIN. Let me explain quickly why we use Chinese names and not English names when working with Chinese herbs.
English names for herbs usually use the Latin names or other common names for herbs. This poses a problem because English names can use family names and ’slang’ names. Lets take Angelica for example. Now there are 3 different types of Angelica. Now if you only use Western Herbs you may only use 1 type, if you use Chinese Herbs you will only use 2 but if you use both Western and Chinese Herbs you have 3 different types. Using the English name of Angelica there is no difference. This is a Family name, and using Latin is difficult to remember. Now in Chinese Angelica is Bai Zhi and Du Huo. As you see 2 totally different names.
Next, example is the fact that we don’t use the hole part of where the herb came from. For example Dandelion has a root, leaves, and flower. Well if you say Dandelion there are some issues on what you are using. In fact, separate parts of herbs have different properties. When you use Chinese names it is inclusive on the usage. For instance Pu Gong Ying doesn’t mean Dandelion, but rather is a Chinese herbal name for Dandelion which uses the leaves and Roots.
Lastly, this takes away the nicknames that herbs get to save confusion: Knitbone/ Comfrey, Lycii Berries/ Goji Berries/ Gou Qi Zi, etc…

Now, I didn’t take a huge list and copy it over. I just pasted the list that I use which covers the herbs that I use. This isn’t an exhaustive list and I don’t have all the blanks filled in, but I’m posting up what I have. Anyone can feel free to email me more info and what would be great is the characters.

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