Eden Apothecary · Herb Profile
Paeonia suffruticosa Andr.
Pronounced Mu Dan Pi (moo dahn pee); Tree Peony Bark. Latin Paeonia suffruticosa (pay-OH-nee-uh suf-roo-tih-KOH-suh).
Cool, dispersing, blood-clearing: it cools the blood that heat has scorched and breaks the stasis heat leaves behind, moving without provoking bleeding.
Contraindicated. TCM references uniformly forbid Mu Dan Pi in pregnancy because its blood-invigorating, stasis-dispelling action can stimulate the uterus and threaten the pregnancy. Avoid throughout gestation. (Bensky, Clavey & Stoger 2004; Chen & Chen 2004.)
No human lactation data located (no LactMed entry). The recommendation is precautionary. Traditionally avoided during nursing given the blood-moving nature; use only under a qualified practitioner's direction.
Used in classical pediatric formulas for blood-heat rashes and fevers at reduced, weight-adjusted doses under practitioner supervision. Not intended for unsupervised home use in infants or young children.
Cold digestion and loose stools, blood deficiency without stasis, and heavy menstrual flow that is not due to blood heat or blood stasis. The antiplatelet action warrants caution around surgery and with blood-thinning drugs.
Pregnancy (blood-moving, emmenagogue). Yin deficiency with profuse sweating. Cold-deficiency diarrhea. Active bleeding disorders and the perioperative window (antiplatelet effect).
Paeonia suffruticosa is very widely cultivated across China as both an ornamental and a medicinal crop; medicinal 'Feng Dan' is farm-grown, chiefly in Anhui. It is not a wild-at-risk species and does not appear on the United Plant Savers list (which tracks North American natives). Prefer cultivated, pharmacopeial-grade bark tested for heavy-metal (lead, cadmium) and pesticide residues.
Not in canonical biblical or Mediterranean texts. This is the Chinese tree peony, first recorded in the Shennong Ben Cao Jing (c. 200 CE) as Mu Dan among the middle-grade herbs. The peony of the classical Greco-Roman world (Paeonia officinalis, named for the healer Paion in Homer, and described by Dioscorides and Pliny) is a distinct European species and a different medicine from this Chinese root bark.
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