Moutan Bark – 1 lb (454 g)

Moutan Bark, known in Chinese as 牡丹皮 (Mǔdānpí) and scientifically as Cortex Moutan, 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 Moutan Bark carefully sourced to preserve its therapeutic properties.

As a herbal supplement, Moutan Bark 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, Moutan Bark provides a safe, natural way to experience the benefits of traditional Chinese medicine.

Trusted for centuries, Moutan Bark 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 Moutan Bark, 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 Danpi, Dangen, and Mudan Root Bark. It is the root bark of Paeonia suffruticosa Andr., a plant of the Paeoniaceae family. It is mainly produced in Anhui, Sichuan, Hunan, Hubei, Shaanxi, Shandong, Gansu, Guizhou, and other regions. The roots are dug up in winter, with fine roots and soil removed. The fresh wood core is extracted and then sun-dried, which is called “Thick Danpi”; after removing the outer bark, it is called “Scraped Bark”.

[Properties] Bitter and pungent in taste, slightly cold in nature. Enters the Heart, Liver, and Kidney meridians.

[Actions] Clears heat and cools the blood, activates blood circulation and resolves blood stasis.

[Applications]
1. Used for warm diseases where heat enters the nutritive and blood levels or in the late stage of febrile diseases. For example, when warm disease heat evil enters the nutritive and blood levels causing fever worse at night, dry mouth, delirium, rashes, vomiting blood or nosebleeds, red crimson tongue, or various bleeding syndromes caused by reckless movement of blood heat, it is often used together with rhinoceros horn and red peony root, in formulas such as Qingying Tang and Xijiao Dihuang Tang. If in the late stage of warm disease the evil is hidden in the yin portion, with night fever and early morning coolness, red tongue, thin rapid pulse, or bone steaming tidal fever caused by yin deficiency internal heat, it can be combined with Anemarrhena, turtle shell, and Artemisia annua, in formulas such as Qinghao Biejia Tang.
2. Used for blood stasis causing amenorrhea, dysmenorrhea, and traumatic injuries. For blood stasis dysmenorrhea and amenorrhea, it is often combined with cinnamon twig, peach kernel, and poria, in formulas such as Guizhi Fuling Wan; for traumatic injuries with blood stasis swelling and pain, it can be combined with frankincense, myrrh, sappanwood, and dragon’s blood.
3. Used for intestinal abscess and ulcerated sores with swelling and toxicity. For early-stage intestinal abscess with lower abdominal pain and no pus formation, often combined with rhubarb, mirabilite, and peach kernel, in formulas such as Dahuang Mudanpi Tang; if heat toxin is intense with abscess and ulcer swelling and toxicity, often combined with rhubarb, Angelica dahurica, and licorice, in formulas such as Jiangjun San; for hemorrhoidal swelling and toxicity, often combined with pagoda tree flower and Sanguisorba officinalis.
4. Used for liver fire causing red swollen painful eyes, and stomach fire causing gum pain. For red eyes, headache, and hypochondriac pain caused by liver qi stagnation transforming into fire, it can be combined with Bupleurum, Gardenia, and white peony root, as in Jiawei Xiaoyao San; for stomach fire causing gum swelling and pain with foul breath, it is often combined with Cimicifuga, raw Rehmannia, and Coptis, in formulas such as Qingwei San.
Additionally, this herb can be used for urticaria caused by blood heat, often combined with raw Rehmannia, Kochia scoparia, Dictamnus dasycarpus, and cicada molting.

[Dosage and Administration] Internal use: decoction, 6–9 g; or incorporated into pills and powders. For clearing nutritive level heat, eliminating steaming bone disorder, and resolving abscesses, use raw; for cooling blood and stopping bleeding, use stir-fried; for activating blood circulation and dispersing blood stasis, use wine-fried.

[Cautions] Contraindicated in cases of spleen and stomach deficiency cold with diarrhea, excessive menstruation in women, and during pregnancy.

[Modern Research]
1. Chemical constituents: Moutan bark contains paeonol, paeonol glycoside, paeoniflorin, and paeonol new glycoside. It also contains paeoniflorin, oxidized paeoniflorin, benzoyl paeoniflorin, benzoyl oxidized paeoniflorin, gallic acid, and others. Additionally, it contains volatile oils, phytosterols, benzoic acid, sucrose, glucose, etc.
2. Pharmacological effects: Paeonol has central inhibitory effects including sedation, hypothermia, antipyresis, analgesia, and antispasmodic actions; it has mild cardioprotective effects against myocardial ischemia; paeonol and its glycosides have significant antihypertensive effects; paeonol aqueous extracts and paeoniflorin inhibit cyclooxygenase reactions, reducing thromboxane A2 synthesis, thus exhibiting antiplatelet aggregation effects; extracts of moutan bark inhibit both plasminogen and plasmin activities; paeonol and other glycosides have anti-inflammatory effects; paeonol prevents stress-induced ulcers in mice and inhibits gastric juice secretion in rats; paeonol has diuretic effects, increasing excretion of water, sodium, and chloride in a dose-dependent manner; decoctions have strong antibacterial effects against Staphylococcus aureus, hemolytic streptococcus, Bacillus subtilis, Escherichia coli, Shigella, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Salmonella typhi, Salmonella paratyphi, Proteus, Diplococcus pneumoniae, and Vibrio cholerae.
3. Clinical reports: 1) Allergic rhinitis: Moutan bark decoction (1500 g dry herb distilled into 2000 ml milky solution, stored in dropper bottles), administered intranasally 3 times daily. In 140 cases treated, 36 cases showed marked effect, 86 cases improved, with a total effective rate of 87.1%. [Hunan Medical Journal, 1983, (4):24] 2) Pruritus: Intramuscular injection of paeonol heat injection 4 ml twice daily. In 34 cases treated, those without obvious improvement after 2 weeks were considered ineffective. Results: 26 cured, 4 improved, 4 ineffective. No adverse reactions observed. [Clinical Dermatology Journal, 1987, 16(2):103] 3) Various pain syndromes: 5% paeonol sulfonate sodium injection, each 1 ml containing 50 mg, intramuscular injection 2–4 ml once or twice daily. Used for postoperative pain, acute low back and leg pain, rheumatic pain, gastric and duodenal ulcer pain, sequelae pain of viral myocarditis, urinary tract stone pain, second-degree burn wound pain, etc., in 132 cases, all showing good analgesic effects. [Chinese Herbal Medicine, 1984, (10):28]