"Among flowers, the peony reigns supreme." This title of "Flower King" gained widespread recognition as early as the Tang Dynasty. The Tang poet Pi Rixiu once praised it in verse: "Only after all other blooms have faded does it reveal its fragrance, earning the noble title of King of Flowers. It boasts unmatched beauty under heaven, possessing the world's most exquisite scent."
Indeed, peonies are large and beautiful. Whether red, purple, yellow, white, or green, they all hold high ornamental value. Tang poet Wang Wei captured their essence with the famous lines: "Green splendor rests in quiet grace, / Crimson robes fade from pale to deep." Song Dynasty literary giant Su Shi's verse—"One blossom, a fiery red, its green hues seem to flow, / Spring's radiance reflects, putting snow and frost to shame"—leaves an even more profound impression.
While the peony is celebrated as an ornamental flower, its root bark serves as a potent medicinal herb known as peony root (Moutan Pi), or simply Dan Pi. It is a crucial herb for clearing heat and cooling the blood.
Li Shizhen emphasized in his Compendium of Materia Medica that peony root "cools the blood, treats latent heat within the blood, and alleviates restlessness and fever." Modern research has also confirmed its antipyretic, anti-inflammatory, and antibacterial properties. It is suitable for treating yin deficiency fever with nighttime heat subsiding by morning, or for tuberculosis patients experiencing tidal fevers, night sweats, and blood-tinged sputum.Peony root is included in formulas like Qinghao Biejia Decoction, which specifically dispels deficiency heat, and Liuwei Dihuang Pills, which nourish the liver and kidneys. For women experiencing liver qi stagnation with excessive heat, manifesting as irritability and feverishness worsening at night, facial flushing, dry mouth, dry eyes, and irregular menstruation, Peony root can be combined with Gardenia, Bupleurum, and White Peony root in formulas like Dan Zhi Xiaoyao Powder.For women with dysmenorrhea, amenorrhea, or uterine fibroids, it is often combined with Cinnamomum twig (桂枝), Poria (茯苓), Paeonia (芍药), and Peach kernel (桃仁), as seen in Cinnamomum Twig and Poria Pill (桂枝茯苓丸). Reports indicate that treating 32 cases of ovarian cysts with this formula resulted in 23 recoveries, 6 improvements, and 3 inefficiencies, yielding an overall efficacy rate of 90.63%.
Peony root bark cools the blood and aids in hemostasis, making it commonly used for subcutaneous hemorrhages and epistaxis during febrile diseases and infectious conditions. The renowned heat-clearing and blood-cooling formula Rhino Horn and Rehmannia Decoction includes peony root bark.
As early as the Divine Farmer's Classic of Materia Medica, peony root bark was noted for its ability to "treat boils and sores."To this day, it remains effective for both external sores and internal abscesses. For external conditions like boils, carbuncles, and toxic sores, it is combined with honeysuckle, forsythia, and wild chrysanthemum. For internal conditions like intestinal abscesses (appendicitis), it is paired with rhubarb and peach kernel.Zhang Zhongjing, the Sage of Medicine, named his renowned formula for treating intestinal abscesses "Rhubarb and Peony Bark Decoction." Modern research indicates that peony bark also lowers blood pressure, often combined with wild chrysanthemum and oyster shell in formulas like Peony and Wild Chrysanthemum Decoction. Thus, the Queen of Flowers, peony, boasts blossoms of myriad hues, while its root bark offers diverse medicinal properties—truly, both flower and medicine are splendid!