Eden Apothecary · Herb Profile
Paeonia lactiflora
Also known as Bai Shao
Pronounced White Peony (wyt PEE-uh-nee); Bai Shao (by shaow); Paeonia lactiflora (pee-OH-nee-uh lak-tih-FLOR-uh).
Cool, moist, and inwardly softening: a sour, blood-nourishing root that relaxes a tight, over-strung Liver, stills cramp and spasm, and preserves the yin and the blood.
Guidance conflicts, so do not self-administer; use only under qualified professional supervision. Western practitioner references advise avoiding white peony in pregnancy because of its action on the female reproductive system (Herbal Reality). In Chinese medicine, by contrast, Bai Shao is a common constituent of supervised pregnancy formulas such as Dang Gui Shao Yao San, given to nourish blood and ease cramping. Because robust modern human safety data are lacking and the traditions diverge, it should be used in pregnancy only on the advice of a qualified herbalist or physician, not for casual self-treatment. Sources: Herbal Reality (Bai Shao); AHPA Botanical Safety Handbook, 2nd ed. (confirm exact class at merge); Bensky, Clavey and Stoger, Chinese Herbal Medicine: Materia Medica (traditional supervised obstetric use).
Insufficient modern data; use only under professional supervision. There are no controlled lactation studies and no data on transfer of peony constituents into breast milk, and Western practitioner sources advise avoiding it during lactation because of its reproductive-system action. Prefer a better-documented remedy if one will serve. Sources: Herbal Reality (Bai Shao); absence of lactation data (precautionary, consistent with NCCIH guidance to avoid unstudied botanicals while nursing).
Not formally established; avoid unsupervised use in young children. There are no modern pediatric safety studies for isolated white peony. It appears in traditional pediatric Chinese formulas only under practitioner guidance, and should be given to children only under professional supervision. Sources: absence of pediatric safety data (precautionary practice); Bensky, Clavey and Stoger, Chinese Herbal Medicine: Materia Medica.
Because of its cool nature it is cautioned in weak yang qi, in cold in the middle burner, and in diarrhea from deficient cold. Paeoniflorin and paeonol have measurable antiplatelet and mild anticoagulant activity, so caution is advised alongside blood-thinning medication and around surgery. The standardized total glucosides of paeony are immunomodulatory, a theoretical concern with immunosuppressant therapy. By the traditional eighteen incompatibilities of Chinese medicine, peony is regarded as incompatible with li lu (Veratrum) and should not be combined with it. The root is otherwise of low toxicity and well tolerated in ordinary decoction doses.
Known allergy to peony. Deficient-cold digestion, yang deficiency, and cold-type watery diarrhea (a relative energetic contraindication; if used, combine with warming herbs). Pregnancy and lactation except under qualified professional supervision (see safety fields). Concurrent anticoagulant or antiplatelet therapy and the perioperative period (caution and monitoring). Do not combine with Veratrum (li lu) per the traditional herb-herb incompatibility.
Paeonia lactiflora is a long-domesticated ornamental and medicinal crop, cultivated at scale for the root (notably in Anhui and other Chinese provinces), and is not wild-at-risk; it carries no United Plant Savers listing. Favor cultivated, food- or medicine-grade root from suppliers who test for pesticide and heavy-metal residues. Some wild Paeonia species elsewhere are of conservation concern, but the commercial Bai Shao of commerce is cultivated rather than wildcrafted.
Not named in the canonical biblical texts. The medicinal Bai Shao is native to China and northeast Asia and is first documented in the Shennong Ben Cao Jing of the Han dynasty. The genus name Paeonia commemorates Paeon, physician to the gods of ancient Greece (Homer, Iliad); the European peony (Paeonia officinalis) appears in Dioscorides' De Materia Medica and in Pliny, prescribed for nightmares and for uterine pains, but that is a related Mediterranean species of the Greco-Roman tradition, not the Chinese medicinal white peony and not a plant of Scripture.
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