Cinnamon Twig – 1 lb (454 g)

Cinnamon Twig, known in Chinese as 桂枝 (Guìzhī) and scientifically as Ramulus Cinnamomi, is a valued herb in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). This TCM herb has been traditionally used to support natural wellness, maintain vitality, and encourage holistic balance. At TCMforyou.com, we provide premium-quality Cinnamon Twig carefully sourced to preserve its therapeutic properties.

As a herbal supplement, Cinnamon Twig helps promote overall well-being and supports natural energy, immunity, and balance. Integrating this herb into your wellness routine offers a gentle, time-tested approach to enhancing daily health. Whether brewed as tea, added to herbal remedies, or taken as part of a TCM formula, Cinnamon Twig provides a safe, natural way to experience the benefits of traditional Chinese medicine.

Trusted for centuries, Cinnamon Twig has been used in TCM to harmonize the body and encourage optimal functioning of key systems. At TCMforyou, we prioritize authenticity and quality. Each batch undergoes rigorous testing to ensure purity and potency, delivering an herbal product aligned with traditional practices.

Experience the natural support of Cinnamon Twig, promoting immune health, vitality, and holistic well-being. Embrace the wisdom of TCM and incorporate this gentle, effective herbal remedy into your daily wellness journey.

[Overview] This herb is also known as Willow Cinnamon Twig. It is the tender twig of Cinnamomum cassia Presl, a plant of the Lauraceae family. It is mainly produced in Guangxi, Guangdong, Fujian, Yunnan, and other regions. The tender twigs are harvested in spring and summer, leaves removed, then sun-dried or sliced and sun-dried.

[Properties] Taste: acrid and sweet; nature: warm. Enters the Bladder, Heart, and Lung meridians.

[Actions] Induces sweating and releases the muscle layer, warms and unblocks the channels, assists yang to transform qi.

[Applications]
1. Used for external contraction of wind-cold with exterior syndromes, suitable for both exterior deficiency and exterior excess. For wind-cold exterior excess without sweating, aversion to cold and fever, often combined with Ephedra (Ma Huang), e.g., Ma Huang Tang; for wind-cold exterior deficiency with sweating, aversion to wind and fever, often combined with White Peony Root (Bai Shao), fresh ginger, etc., e.g., Gui Zhi Tang (Cinnamon Twig Decoction); for patients with yang deficiency constitution and external wind-cold, may be combined with Ephedra, Aconite, and Asarum.
2. Used for wind-damp painful obstruction, numbness of skin and muscles, coldness and stiffness of limbs. For wind-cold-damp painful obstruction, often combined with Notopterygium (Qiang Huo), Saposhnikovia (Fang Feng), turmeric, Angelica sinensis, etc.; for cold-damp painful obstruction, may be combined with Aconite, Licorice, Atractylodes, e.g., Gui Zhi Fu Zi Tang, Gan Cao Fu Zi Tang; for hot painful obstruction with joint redness, swelling, and pain, combined with Gypsum, Anemarrhena, e.g., Gui Zhi Shao Yao Zhi Mu Tang; for blood and qi deficiency with disharmony of nutritive and defensive qi and wind-induced blood painful obstruction with numbness or pain, combined with Astragalus and Peony, e.g., Huang Qi Gui Zhi Wu Wu Tang; for blood deficiency with cold coagulation and cold extremities, combined with Angelica and Asarum, e.g., Dang Gui Si Ni Tang.
3. Used for chest painful obstruction due to cold coagulation and blood stasis, dysmenorrhea, amenorrhea, and abdominal masses. For chest painful obstruction and chest pain, combined with Bitter Orange (Zhi Shi) and Allium macrostemon (Xie Bai), e.g., Zhi Shi Xie Bai Gui Zhi Tang; for dysmenorrhea and amenorrhea, often combined with Angelica and Ligusticum chuanxiong, e.g., Wen Jing Tang; for blood stasis abdominal masses with lower abdominal pain, combined with Moutan Cortex and Peach Kernel, e.g., Gui Zhi Fu Ling Wan; for deficiency cold abdominal pain, often combined with Peony and maltose, e.g., Xiao Jian Zhong Tang.
4. Used for phlegm-fluid retention with fullness, edema, and difficult urination, dizziness. When yin cold obstructs and yang qi is not disseminated, body fluids cannot be distributed, causing internal retention of water and phlegm-fluid, often combined with Poria and Atractylodes, e.g., Fu Ling Gui Zhi Bai Zhu Gan Cao Tang; for bladder qi transformation dysfunction with edema and difficult urination, combined with Poria, Polyporus, Alisma, e.g., Wu Ling San.
5. Used for phlegm-fluid dizziness and palpitations. For internal retention of phlegm-fluid with fullness in chest and hypochondrium, dizziness, combined with Poria, Atractylodes, Licorice, e.g., Ling Gui Zhu Gan Tang; for palpitations with intermittent pulse, often combined with honey-fried Licorice, Ginseng, Donkey-hide Gelatin, e.g., Zhi Gan Cao Tang; for palpitations with irritability, combined with Dragon Bone and Oyster Shell, e.g., Gui Zhi Gan Cao Long Gu Mu Li Tang.

[Dosage and Administration] Internal use: decoction, 3–9 g; or incorporated into pills or powders.

[Cautions] Contraindicated in warm-heat diseases and syndromes of yin deficiency with yang hyperactivity; also not suitable for pregnant women and those with reckless bleeding due to blood heat.

[Modern Research]
1. Chemical constituents: Cinnamon Twig contains volatile oil, whose main component is cinnamaldehyde; it also contains benzyl benzoate, cinnamyl acetate, β-caryophyllene, aciphyllene, coumarin, and others.
2. Pharmacological effects: The ethanol extract of Cinnamon Twig has inhibitory effects on Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Escherichia coli, Proteus, Shigella, and Salmonella typhi; the water decoction inhibits influenza virus strain Makyoto 681 and orphan viruses; cinnamon water decoction and cinnamaldehyde have antipyretic and analgesic effects related to peripheral vasodilation, promotion of sweating, and heat dissipation; cinnamaldehyde also has sedative, anti-inflammatory, and anticonvulsant effects; in vitro, cinnamaldehyde inhibits platelet aggregation and has anticoagulant enzyme activity.
3. Clinical reports: 1) Hypotension: Cinnamon Twig and Cinnamon Bark 40 g each, Licorice 20 g, decocted together and taken as tea in three doses. A total of 117 cases treated with all effective. [Chinese Rural Medicine, 1985, (5):11] 2) Facial paralysis: Cinnamon Twig 30 g, Saposhnikovia 20 g, Red Peony Root 15 g, decocted and applied hot to affected area for 20 minutes twice daily until local skin redness appears. A total of 30 cases treated, 26 cured, 3 improved, 1 ineffective. [Hunan Journal of Traditional Chinese Medicine, 1987, 8(2): cover 4]