HomeTraditional Chinese Medicine HerbsTree Peony Root - bark

Tree Peony Root - bark

Latin Pharmaceutical Name

Moutan Cortex

Chinese Name

牡丹皮

Category

Tree barks and root barks

Tree Peony Root - barkMore Info

Production Regions

Primarily produced in the Chinese provinces of Sichuan, Anhui, Henan, Shandong.

Macroscopic Features

Tube-shaped or partially tube-shaped, with a longitudinally cut open fissure, slightly curled inward or opened, 5~20cm long, 0.5~1.2cm diameter, 0.1~0.4cm thick. Yuan dan pi is externally grayish-brown or yellowish-brown, with numerous horizontal lenticels and thin root scars; pink where the cork has fallen off; gua dan pi (fen dan pi) is pink-red or pale red. Inner surface is pale grayish-yellow or pale brown, with obvious thin longitudinal lines, often with shiny crystals (needle-like or column-like crystals of paeonol). Hard and brittle texture, easily broken. Fractured surface is relatively flat, pale pink-red, powdery, indistinct pattern. Aromatic odor, slightly bitter and astringent taste, numbing to the tongue.

Quality Requirements

Superior medicinal material is thick, long, with thick skin, without woody center, pink-white fractured surface, powdery, numerous ‘bright silver star’, with potent aroma.

Properties

Bitter, acrid, slightly cold.

Functions

Clears heat, cools blood, invigorates blood, disperses stasis. Apply to Heat entering into blood circulation, eruptions, non-traumatic hemorrhage and hemafecia, fever due to heat hidden in yin of later stage of febrile diseases, yin deficiency and bone steaming and hot flash, blood stagnation and abdominal mass, dysmenorrheal, abscess and sore swelling pain, injuries due to falls and toil, wind-damp heat impediment.

Technical Terms

‘Bright silver star’: some medicinal material have constituents that often crystallize on the surface, and can be seen glittering under bright light. The crystals on the inner surface of mu dan pi are formed from paeonol.

Origin

The dried root bark of Paeonia suffruticosa Andr.(Ranunculaceae)

Tree Peony Root - barkHerbs in the formula

Turtle Shell Decocted Pill

Action：Moves qi, invigorates blood, dispels dampness, dissolves phlegm, softens hardness, and disperses concretions.

Indication：Bie Jia Jian Wan is indicated for chronic malaria with masses below the costal region and abdominal masses. Long-lasting malaria causes masses to gather underneath the costal region. It is called chronic malaria with masses. Symptoms include: Masses underneath the costal region that stay firm when pushed, abdominal pain, weak muscles, decreased appetite, occasional cold or fever, and inhibited menses.

View Details Blood-regulating formulas

Yin-Nourishing and Lung-Clearing Decoction

Action：Nourishes yin and clears lung heat, resolves toxins and improves the condition of the throat.

Indication：Yang Yin Qing Fei Tang is indicated for diphtheria due to yin deficiency and dryness-heat. The symptoms include white, curd-like spots in the throat that are hard to scrape off, a swollen and sore throat, with or without fever at the beginning of the disease, dry nose and lips, with or without coughing, raspy breathing resembling wheezing, a rapid, forceless or thin, rapid pulse.

View Details Dryness-moistening formulas

Channel-Warming Decoction

Action：Warms the channels and dissipates cold, dispels stasis and nourishes blood.

Indication：Wen Jing Tang is indicated for deficiency-cold of the chong and ren mai, obstructive blood stasis marked by menstrual spotting or purple menses with blood clots. There may be irregular menstruation such as advanced, delayed, or prolonged periods, or having a period twice a month. There may also be inhibited menses, fever at night, vexatious heat in the palms, dry lips and mouth, distention and fullness of the lower abdomen, a dark red tongue, and a thready, choppy pulse. Infertility due to deficient cold of the uterus may also manifest.

View Details Blood-regulating formulas

Kidney Qi Pill

Action：Supplements the kidney and assists yang.

Indication：Shen Qi Wan is indicated for patterns of kidney yang deficiency manifesting lumbar pain, flaccidity of the lower limbs, cold sensation of the body below the waist, spasm of the lesser abdomen, dysuria or abnormally severe profuse urination at night, impotence, premature ejaculation, a pale, swollen tongue, and a deficient, weak pulse that is deep and thin at the chi position. It is also applicable for patterns of phlegm-retention, edema, xiao ke, beriberi, bladder colic, and dysuria during pregnancy, and so on.

View Details Tonic formulas

Rhinoceros Horn and Rehmannia Decoction

Action：Clears heat, resolves toxins, cools the blood, and dissolves stasis.

Indication：Xi Jiao Di Huang Tang is indicated for the heat entering the blood level. The manifestations include:

View Details Heat-clearing formulas

Stomach-Heat-Clearing Powder

Action：Drains stomach fire and cools the blood.

Indication：This formula is indicated for toothaches caused by stomach fire. The symptoms are toothache radiating to the head, aversion to heat and a preference for cold on the teeth, bad breath that is hot, heat in the face, thirst, gingival atrophy bleeding, redness, swelling, and ulcers in the gum, swelling and pain in lips, tongue, and cheeks, a red tongue with a yellow coating, and a slippery, rapid pulse.

View Details Heat-clearing formulas

Cinnamon Twig and Poria Pill

Action：Invigorates blood and dissolves stasis, gradually eliminates masses or lumps.

Indication：Gui Zhi Fu Ling Wan is indicated for stasis obstructing the uterus; for instance, women who chronically have masses or lumps, menstrual spotting, restless fetus, dark purple menses, impalpable abdominal pain, painful amenorrhea, or lochiorrhea. The tongue is dark purple with petechia, and the pulse is deep and choppy.

View Details Blood-regulating formulas

Sweet Wormwood and Turtle Shell Decoction

Action：Nourishes yin and vents heat.

Indication：This formula is indicated for patterns where yin has been damaged along with latent pathogens. The symptoms are night fever that abates at dawn, fever that abates without sweating, a red tongue body with a scanty coating, and a thready, rapid pulse.

View Details Heat-clearing formulas

Six-Ingredient Rehmannia Pill

Action：Supplements and nourishes the liver and kidney.

Indication：Liu Wei Di Huang Wan is indicated for liver-kidney yin deficiency. The symptoms are soreness of the waist and knees, dizziness, tinnitus, deafness, night sweat, seminal emission, xiao ke (wasting-thirst), steaming bone fever, feverish feeling in the palms and soles, a dry mouth and throat, loosening of the teeth, heel pain, dribbling of urine, and unclosed fontanel in children. The tongue is red with scanty coating and the pulse is deep, thready, and rapid.

View Details Tonic formulas

Rhubarb and Cortex Moutan Decoction

Action：Drains heat, breaks up stasis, dissipates masses, and relieves swollen sores.

Indication：Da Huang Mu Dan Tang is indicated for the initial stage of intestinal abscess caused by the stagnation of dampness, heat, and blood stasis. The symptoms are pain which refuses pressure in the right lesser abdomen (lateral aspects of the lower abdomen), pain that can be as severe as strangury or even accompanied with swollen mass in the right lesser abdomen, bent right foot which cannot stretch otherwise the pain being worsened, normal urination, frequent fever, spontaneous sweating, and aversion to cold. The tongue coating is thin, greasy, and yellow. The pulse is slippery and rapid.

View Details Purgative formulas

Ten Charred Substances Powder

Action：Cools blood and stanches bleeding.

Indication：Shi Hui San is indicated for hemorrhages due to blood heat. Examples include vomiting of blood, spitting of blood, expectoration of blood, coughing of blood, nosebleed. If the color of the blood is bright red, the situation is acute and severe. The tongue body is red and the pulse is rapid.

View Details Blood-regulating formulas