陶弘景隐居茅山，兼通医药、炼丹、天文、地理，在整理秦汉以来本草学成果的基础上，撰成《本草经集注》，将《神农本草经》365种药物增补至730种，并首创按药物自然属性（玉石、草木、虫兽等）分类的方法，对后世本草学体系影响深远，被视为「山中宰相」。

Tao Hongjing lived in reclusion on Mount Mao and was versed in medicine, alchemy, astronomy, and geography. Building on the accumulated pharmacological knowledge of the Qin and Han periods, he compiled the Collected Commentaries on Materia Medica, expanding the 365 substances of the Divine Farmer's Materia Medica to 730 and introducing a classification system based on natural categories (minerals, plants, animals, etc.) that shaped the structure of Chinese pharmacology for centuries. He was informally known as the "Prime Minister of the Mountains" for the political influence he retained from seclusion.