This product is the root bark of the peony (Paeonia suffruticosa Andr.), a perennial deciduous shrub of the Japanese buttercup herb family. It is produced in Anhui, Shandong, and other regions. Harvested in autumn and dried in the sun, it can be used raw or stir-fried.

bubble_chart Properties and Meridians

Bitter and acrid, slightly cold. Act on heart, liver and kidney meridians.

bubble_chart Efficacy

Clearing heat and cooling blood, invigorating blood and resolving stasis.

bubble_chart Indications

1. Used for macula and papule, hematemesis, and epistaxis. This product is slightly cold, capable of clearing the nutrient aspect and blood aspect of excess heat, with the effects of cooling blood and stopping bleeding. It is used to treat warm disease with heat entering the nutrient-blood, forcing blood to move recklessly, causing macules and rashes, hematemesis, and epistaxis, often used in combination with Unprocessed Rehmannia Root , Red Peony Root.
2. Used for warm pathogens damaging yin, yin-deficiency fever. This product is pungent and cold, good at clearing and penetrating latent heat in the yin aspect. It is often used to treat the late stage of warm disease [third stage], where pathogens are latent in the yin aspect, body fluids are already damaged, with night fever abating at dawn, heat receding without sweating, often used in combination with turtle carapace, Unprocessed Rehmannia Root , Anemarrhena, etc., such as Sweet Wormwood and Turtle Shell Decoction.
3. Used for blood stagnation amenorrhea, dysmenorrheal stuffiness, and traumatic injuries. This product can also activate blood circulation and remove stasis. It is used to treat blood stagnation amenorrhea, stuffiness, etc., often used in combination with Peach Kernel, Red Peony Root, Cinnamon Twig, such as Cinnamon Twig and Poria Pill; used to treat traumatic injuries, swelling and pain, often used in combination with Chinese Angelica, Peach Kernel, frankincense, etc.
4. Used for abscesses and sores, intestinal abscess abdominal pain. This product is bitter and cold, clearing heat and cooling blood, dispersing stasis and resolving abscesses. It is used to treat excessive fire toxin, abscesses and sores, often used in combination with Lonicera, Forsythia, Dandelion, etc.; used to treat the initial stage of intestinal abscess, often in combination with Rhubarb Rhizoma, Peach Kernel, Mirabilite, etc., such as Rhubarb and Peony Peel Decoction.

bubble_chart Documentation

1. Benjing: "Mainly treats cold and heat, apoplexy convulsion, spasms, fright epilepsy pathogenic qi, removes hard masses and static blood retained in the intestines and stomach, calms the five zang-organs, and treats abscesses and sores."
2. Zhenzhunang: "Treats accumulated blood in the intestines and stomach, nosebleeds, hematemesis, and steaming bone fever without sweating."
3. Bencao Gangmu: "Treats hidden fire in the blood and removes vexing heat."

bubble_chart Usage and Dosage

Decoct 6-12g for use. Use raw for cooling blood, wine-fried for invigorating blood and resolving stasis, and scorch-fried for stopping bleeding.

bubble_chart Cautions and Contraindications

Blood deficiency with cold, hypermenorrhea, and pregnant women should not use it.

bubble_chart Modern Pharmacology

This product contains paeonol, paeonol glycosides, paeoniflorin, Peony Root glycosides, volatile oils, and phytosterols, among others.

• Both paeonol and glycoside components have anti-inflammatory effects.
• Paeonol has central inhibitory effects such as sedation, cooling, antipyretic, analgesic, and antispasmodic actions;
• Moreover, the decoction with water, paeonol, and the decoction with water from which paeonol has been removed all have significant blood pressure-lowering effects.
• Its decoction has inhibitory effects on various pathogenic bacteria such as dysentery bacillus and cold-damage disease bacillus, as well as on skin fungi that cause the nature of disease.
• Paeonol can also cause congestion in the uterine membrane of animals, promoting menstruation, and has anti-early pregnancy effects in mice;
• Paeonol also has anti-ulcer effects and inhibits gastric acid secretion.