It is the earliest monograph on agronomy and botany in the history of our country, and it also makes a comprehensive summary of the utilization, processing and treatment of plant resources. It has certain influence on the development of botany, agronomy, medicine and other disciplines in China.
There are many versions of "disaster relief herbs", including 15 and 6 kinds in China. The original book "Herbal Medicine for Disaster Relief" was published in Kaifeng in the fourth year of Yongle (AD 1406), but this edition has been lost. In the fourth year of Jiajing (A.D. 1525), Taiyuan, Shanxi Province was printed for the second time, which is the oldest block printing popular today. It is divided into four volumes. In the thirty-fourth year of Jiajing (AD 1555), Lu Dong, a native of Kaifeng Prefecture, republished the book according to the second edition, but mistakenly thought that it was written by his son Zhu Youdun ().
Xu Guangqi once included this book in the famine relief part of his Complete Book of Agricultural Administration. Under the influence of this book, Wang Xilou's Wild Vegetable Cookbook, Zhou's Confucian Caobian and Baoshan's Wild Vegetables were published successively in Ming and Qing Dynasties, including ten books on famine relief. , and the content of "medicine for saving weeds" is widely quoted. This book also has certain reference value for the development and utilization of wild plants today. 1959 Zhonghua Book Company photocopied and published according to Jiajing's four-year engraving.
Japan enjoyed insurance for three years (A.D. 17 16) and Kuanzheng for eleven years (A.D. 1799). American botanist A.S.Lead praised the fine drawing of herbs in A Brief History of Botany (1972), which exceeded the European level at that time. Bernard e reed, a British pharmacologist, translated this book into English. This book is still quoted by books on edible plants published in Japan1940s.