Meet a Gardener: Chinese Medicinal Garden
Join Huntington Botanical curators Michelle Bailey and Aaron Hughes, who will discuss some of the most important plants used in Chinese medicine over the past 2,000 years.
Gardens
Chinese medicine is rooted in one of the world’s oldest systems of plant knowledge. The Chinese Medicinal Garden offers essential insights into humanity’s changing relationship with nature.
Discussion topics will include:
- “Why a Chinese Medicinal Herb Garden?” featuring Qiu Ying’s Garden for Solitary Pleasure 獨樂園 (Ming Dynasty, 16th century)
- “Seed Collecting and Propagation”
- “From Herb to Medicine”
- “Soil and Ground Cover”
Short informal drop-in talks from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Key Facts
- In 2020, The Huntington acquired a large collection of Chinese medicinal plants and seeds from the Chinese Medicinal Herb Farm in Petaluma, California. The well-documented collection includes over 100 unique species of seeds and 200 species of live plants, including some rare plants not available elsewhere in the United States and many collected from China.
- Additional plants have been donated by Ingrid Schneider of the Learning Garden at Venice High School, and there is a collaboration between that medicinal garden and The Huntington’s. The propagation team includes curatorial staff, graduates of Emperor’s College of Traditional Oriental Medicine, and Chinese Garden docents.
- The plants in the three main beds all appear in Shennong’s Classic of Medicine, the oldest text on Chinese pharmaceuticals. Written in the first or second century C.E., the Classic remains a foundational reference for doctors and scholars. The Medicinal Garden’s plants are still commonly used in Chinese medicine today.
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Plantings by Garden Bed Group
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Fundamental Medicines
- Angelica sinensis (Chinese Angelica, Dāng Gūi 當歸)
- Bupleurum chinense (Hare’s Ear, Bĕi Chái Hú 北柴胡)
- Hemerocallis fulva ‘Flasher’ (Orange Daylily, Xuān Căo 萱草)
- Salvia miltiorrhiza (Red Sage, Dān Shēn 丹參)
Herbal Prescriptions
- Lycium chinense (Goji Berry, Gŏu Qĭ 枸杞)
- Rehmannia glutinosa (Chinese Foxglove, Dì Huáng 地黄)
Plant Classifications
- Scutellaria baicalensis (Baikal Skullcap, Huáng Qín 黃芩)
- Ephedra sinica (Chinese Ephedra, Căo Má Huáng 草麻黃)
- Glycyrrhiza glabra (Licorice Root, Yáng Gān Căo 洋甘草)
Imported Medicines
- Curcuma longa (Turmeric, Jiāng Huáng 薑黃)
- Ocimum tenuiflorum (Sacred Basil, Shèng Luó Lè 聖羅勒)
- Talinum paniculatum (Jewels-of-Opar, Tŭ Rén Shēn 土人參)
Comestibles
- Eleocharis dulcis (Water Chestnut, Bí Qí 荸薺)
- Allium tuberosum (Garlic Chives, Jĭu 韭)
- Mentha arvensis (Field Mint, Tián Yĕ Báo Hé 田野薄荷)
Useful Plants
- Indigofera tinctoria (Indigo, Mù Lán 木藍)
- Rubia tinctorum (Madder, Răn Sè Qiàn Căo 染色茜草)
- Artemisia argyi (Chinese Mugwort, Aì 艾)
Ornamentals
- Rosa rugosa (Rugosa Rose, Méi Gūi 玫瑰)
- Adenophora stricta (Ladybells, Shā Shēn 沙參)
Liu Fang Yuan 流芳園, the Garden of Flowing Fragrance, is one of the finest classical-style Chinese gardens outside of China. Filled with Chinese plants and framed by exquisite architecture, the landscape is enriched with references to literature and art.
The Huntington’s Center for East Asian Garden Studies promotes innovative scholarship on the traditions of garden-making in China, Japan, and Korea.