Terms of use

Bencao Index is a reference catalogue of Chinese herbs and formulas.

The information here is provided for educational purposes only and is not intended as medical advice. Reading it does not create a practitioner–patient relationship, and nothing on this site is a diagnosis, a prescription, or a recommendation to use any substance. Please consult a qualified healthcare practitioner before using any herbal medicine or making health-related decisions.

Chinese herbal medicine is dispensed to a person, not to a condition. Dose, combination and suitability depend on an individual assessment that a reference page cannot make.

This catalogue is knowingly incomplete and is published as it is being built. Many entries hold names and classification and nothing more; a page shows a section only when there is something real to put in it. Entries are compiled from published references and may contain errors, omissions, or material that is out of date.

Several substances in this catalogue are toxic, are restricted or prohibited in some jurisdictions, or are unsafe in pregnancy. Warnings appear where the record carries them — but the absence of a warning on a page is not a statement that a substance is safe. It may simply mean the record has not been completed. Do not rely on this site to tell you whether something is safe to take.

Corrections are welcome and are the fastest way this improves.

The compiled text on this site — the descriptions, the arrangement of the catalogue and the site itself — is the work of its compiler. You are welcome to read it, link to it, quote it with attribution, and use it in your own study and practice.

Please do not republish the catalogue wholesale, or reproduce it in bulk as your own. The underlying facts — a plant's identity, its pharmaceutical Latin, the traditional categories — belong to the tradition and to nobody here.

This site does not track you. It is a set of static pages: there is no analytics, no advertising, no cookie, no account, no newsletter, no contact form, and no third-party script or font loaded from anywhere else. Nothing you do here is recorded by this site or sent to anyone.

The search page and the directory listings run entirely in your own browser. Where those pages remember a preference — a column you chose, a filter you set — it is stored locally on your own device and is never transmitted. Clearing your browser storage removes it.

The site is served by a hosting provider which, like any web host, processes the ordinary request information needed to deliver a page. That is outside this site's control and is not used here for any purpose.

Where this site links elsewhere, those sites are not under its control and linking to them is not an endorsement of what they say or sell.

This site is provided as it is, without warranty of any kind, express or implied, including as to accuracy, completeness or fitness for a particular purpose.

To the fullest extent permitted by law, the author is not liable for any loss, injury or damage arising from the use of, or reliance on, anything published here. If you act on information from this site without professional advice, you do so at your own risk.

Nothing in these terms limits any liability that cannot lawfully be limited, or affects your rights under applicable consumer protection legislation.

These terms are governed by the laws of the Province of Ontario and the laws of Canada applicable in it.

These terms may change as the site does. The date at the top of this page is the date they last changed. Continuing to use the site after a change means those terms apply.