Ming herbal (painting): Gomuti sugar palm

Painting of the gomuti sugar palm (guanglangzi, arenga pinnata)in the meticulous (gongbi) style, in colour on silk, from Bencao tupu (Illustrated Herbal). The painted illustrations in Bencao tupu were jointly executed by Zhou Hu and Zhou Xi in 1644 (the final year of the Ming period). The explanatory texts were provided by Zhou Rongqi. The book was not completed: each volume was to have contained 14-15 paintings, but only 29 are extant. Zhou Rongqi writes: The gomuti sugar palm (goes under many different names. It is variously called langmu (betelnut tree), mianmu (lit. flour tree) and tiemu (lit. iron tree). It grows in Guangdong, Guangxi, Sichuan, Yunnan, etc [i.e. the south and south-west of China]. It has a tall, thick, straight trunk without lateral branches. The leaves grow in a cluster at the top. At the very top of the tree, there are several many-branched pedicels, which bear flowers resembling ears of grain, and pearl-like fruit that are green when unripe and red when ripe. The fruit is used in medicine. It is called guanglangzi. It is bitter in sapor, neutral in thermostatic character, and non-poisonous, and has the medicinal effect of breaking up stagnant blood. It is used to treat women who have given birth for blood clots and cold pain in the heart and stomach, etc. Deep inside the trunk is a flour-like granular substance, called guanglangmian (gomuti flour), which is also used in medicine. It is sweet in sapor, neutral in thermostatic character, and non-poisonous. It can be made into cakes and eaten, and is a tonic for insufficiency detriment (xusun). It is used to treat debility from overexertion, feebleness in the back and legs, etc.

Gomuti sugar palm (guanglangzi, arenga pinnata)