[Historical and herbalogical studies on coloring crude drug (Part 3) "Shu wei cao"].

The usage of Shu wei cao as a coloring matter was described for the first time in Er Ya as the name of Jing shu wei. But, in modern Chinese and Japanese literature, few papers reported the use of Shu wei cao as a dye. As a herbal medicine, it seems that it was first described in Ming Yi Bie Lu. In this study, we found that in Chinese and Japanese literature, there is much confusion about the origin of Shu wei cao. It is likely that the original plant of Shu wei cao is to be Salvia japonica Thunb. In Japan, it is feasible that Shu wei cao is to be recognized as Aki-no-tamura-so, while some suggested that misohagi (Lythrum anceps Makino) was identical to Shu wei cao.