Eden Apothecary · Herb Profile
Eucommia ulmoides
Also known as Du Zhong
Pronounced Eucommia: yoo-KOM-ee-uh; ulmoides: ul-MOY-deez. Du Zhong: doo-JAWNG (du zhong).
Warm, grounding Kidney-and-Liver yang tonic: it rebuilds a cold, deficient low back and knees, knits sinew back to bone, steadies rising blood pressure, and traditionally secures a restless fetus.
Du Zhong is a cornerstone traditional 'calm-the-fetus' herb in TCM (a chief herb of Shou Tai Wan, the Fetus Longevity Pill) used to prevent threatened and habitual miscarriage. However, modern human safety and efficacy data in pregnancy are lacking (Natural Medicines / drugs.com), and the exact AHPA pregnancy class could not be verified from available sources. Therefore: use in pregnancy only under a qualified herbalist or physician; not appropriate for self-directed use. Any bleeding or cramping in pregnancy is an obstetric emergency requiring immediate referral.
Insufficient modern lactation data; traditional texts are silent on nursing (Natural Medicines / drugs.com). Avoid self-directed use while breastfeeding; use only under professional guidance.
No specific pediatric safety data and not a traditional pediatric remedy. Insufficient data; use in children only under professional guidance.
Warming yang tonic: may aggravate yin-deficient heat (night sweats, five-palm heat, dry mouth, red dry tongue) and damp-heat. Large or prolonged doses have been associated with heat signs (dry/sore throat, mouth ulcers, bleeding gums, irritability, constipation, dizziness). Its blood-pressure-lowering effect can be additive with antihypertensive drugs. Because it is traditionally used to secure pregnancy, any use in pregnancy should be under qualified supervision, not self-care.
Yin deficiency with effulgent fire / empty-heat; active damp-heat or febrile illness. Use caution with concurrent antihypertensive or sedative-hypnotic medication because of additive effects.
Eucommia ulmoides is the only surviving species of the family Eucommiaceae, effectively extinct in the wild (IUCN Vulnerable) but very widely cultivated across China as a bark and gutta-percha crop. Traditional whole-bark stripping kills the tree; source plantation-grown, sustainably harvested bark (partial-strip or coppice methods). Not a North American species, so not tracked by United Plant Savers; conservation concern rests with dwindling wild populations, which makes cultivated material both the ethical and the standard choice.
Not in canonical biblical texts; native to central China. First recorded in the Shennong Ben Cao Jing (Han dynasty), where it is placed in the superior class. Tradition holds it was named for a Daoist adept, Du Zhong, who was said to attain immortality through its long-term use.
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