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[Classified as Middle Grade in the *Shennong Bencao Jing*]
【Names】 Shugue (from *Shennong Bencao Jing*), Lujiu (from *Shennong Bencao Jing*), Bailiangjin (from *Xinxiu Bencao*), Muxiaoyao (from *Bencao Gangmu*), Huawang (King of Flowers). Li Shizhen said: Peony (*Mudan*), those with red color are superior. Although it bears seeds, seedlings sprout from the root, hence called "Mudan" (Red Root). Tang people called it Muxiaoyao (Woody Peony) because its flower resembles *Paeonia lactiflora* (Shaoyao), while its perennial stem is woody. Among all flowers, Peony ranks first, and *Paeonia lactiflora* ranks second; thus, the world calls Peony the King of Flowers and *Paeonia lactiflora* the Consort. Ouyang Xiu's *Huapu* records over thirty varieties. Their names derive from place, person, color, or uniqueness, detailed elsewhere in this book.
【Collection and Origin】 *Bielu* states: Peony grows in the valleys of Ba Commandery and Hanzhong. Roots are harvested in February and August and dried in the shade.
Tao Hongjing said: It is also found in the Jiangdong region; those with red color are good.
Su Gong said: It grows in Hanzhong and Jiannan. The seedling resembles *Actinidia chinensis* (Yangtao), blooms white flowers in summer, bears round green fruits in autumn, and red fruits in winter, remaining evergreen through winter. The root resembles *Paeonia lactiflora*, with white flesh and red skin. Locals call it Bailiangjin; those called Wudamu in Chang'an are the true variety. What is commonly used today differs, possessing a fishy odor.
Kou Bing said: Those from Hezhou are best; those from Hezhou and Xuanzhou are also excellent. White ones have tonifying effects; red ones have purgative/dredging effects.
Meng Shen said: This is the root of the Peony flower. Those from Ba, Shu, Yu, and Hezhou are superior; those from Haiyan are inferior.
Su Song said: It grows in the mountains of Danzhou, Yanzhou, Qingzhou, Yuezhou, Chuzhou, and Hezhou. The flowers come in yellow, purple, red, and white. These are likely wild Peonies (*Shan Mudan*). Their stems are dry and blackish-white. Seedlings and leaves sprout on the stems in February, and flowers bloom in March. The flowers and leaves resemble cultivated ones, but have only five or six petals. Black seeds form in May, sized like chicken heads. The roots are yellowish-white, 5-7 cun long, and thick as a brush handle. Modern people value them for their bizarre flowers, transplanting and grafting them in autumn and winter, cultivating them in loam, so they bloom magnificently in spring with varied shapes. Thus, their root properties lose their original nature and are useless medicinally.
Chen Cheng said: Peony flowers also exist in crimson and deep green colors. Only the single-petaled red wild ones have roots/bark suitable for medicine. Market vendors sometimes substitute branch bark, which is erroneous.
Li Shizhen said: For medicinal use, only single-petaled red and white Peonies are selected. Multi-petaled varieties are man-made, their qi and flavor impure, and thus unusable. *Huapu* records that west of Danzhou and Yanzhou, and along the Baoxie Road, they are most abundant, indistinguishable from thorns. Locals use them as firewood, but their roots are excellent for medicine. Those who cultivate flowers should sprinkle *Akebiae Radix* (Bailian) powder at the root base to repel insects, place sulfur in holes to kill borers, and must know that piercing the tree with cuttlefish bone will cause it to wither due to its nature.
【Root Bark】
【Processing】 Lei Xiao said: After harvesting and drying the roots, split them with a copper knife, remove the woody core, chop into pieces the size of soybeans, steam with clear rice wine from Si hour to Wei hour, then dry and use.
【Flavor and Properties】 Acrid, cold, non-toxic. *Bielu* says: Bitter, slightly cold. Wu Pu said: Shennong and Qibo considered it: Acrid. Lei Gong and Tongjun considered it: Bitter, non-toxic. Huangdi considered it: Bitter, toxic.
Li Gao said: Cold in qi, bitter and acrid in flavor, Yin with slight Yang, enters the Hand Jueyin (Pericardium) and Foot Shaoyin (Kidney) meridians.
Xu Zhicai said: Feared by *Fritillariae Bulbus* (Beimu), *Rhei Radix et Rhizoma* (Dahuang), *Cuscutae Semen* (Tusizi). Meng Shen said: Avoid garlic and Coriander (*Husui*), can neutralize Arsenic (*Pi*).
【Indications】 Treats chills and fever, wind-stroke spasms, fright epilepsy and evil qi, eliminates hard masses and blood stasis lodging in the intestines and stomach, calms the Five Viscera, treats carbuncles and sores (*Shennong Bencao Jing*).
Treats epidemic headache, exogenous heat and Five Exhaustions, Qi deficiency causing head and waist pain, wind-lock and leprosy (*Bielu*). Long-term use lightens the body and prolongs life (Wu Pu). Treats cold qi, disperses various pains, amenorrhea in women, blood stasis causing waist pain (Zhen Quan). Opens interstices and vessels, discharges pus, resolves traumatic blood stasis, knits bones and tendons, dispels wind-bi, induces abortion and expels the placenta, treats postpartum cold and hot blood/qi disorders (Meng Shen). Treats spirit insufficiency, bone-steaming without sweat, epistaxis and hematemesis (Zhang Yuansu). Harmonizes, generates, and cools blood, treats latent fire in blood, removes...
【Analysis】 Zhang Yuansu said: Peony is the essence of heaven and earth, the leader of flowers. Leaves are Yang, governing growth; flowers are Yin, governing fruition. Dan (red) belongs to Fire. Thus, it can drain fire from the Yin uterus. Added to *Sìwù Tāng* (Four Substance Decoction), it treats women's bone-steaming. He also said: *Mudan Pi* (Peony Root Bark) enters Hand Jueyin and Foot Shaoyin, thus treating bone-steaming without sweat; *Digupi* (Lycii Cortex) enters Foot Shaoyin and Hand Shaoyang, thus treating bone-steaming with sweat. Spirit insufficiency relates to Hand Shaoyin, Will insufficiency to Foot Shaoyin; thus, *Shenqi Wan* (Kidney Qi Pill) by Zhang Zhongjing uses it to treat spirit and will insufficiency. It also treats intestinal blood accumulation, hematemesis, and epistaxis, making it an essential herb, hence used in *Xijiao Dihuang Tang* (Rhino Horn and Rehmannia Decoction).
Zhu Zhenheng said: For heart deficiency, intestinal heat accumulation, blazing heart fire, and heart qi insufficiency, use *Mudan Pi* as the sovereign herb.
Li Shizhen said: *Mudan Pi* treats latent fire in the blood aspect of the Hand and Foot Shaoyin and Jueyin meridians. Latent fire is Yin fire, which is Ministerial Fire (Xianghuo). Ancient formulas used this solely for Ministerial Fire, hence Zhang Zhongjing's *Shenqi Wan* uses it. Later generations exclusively used *Phellodendri Cortex* (Huangbai) for Ministerial Fire, unaware that Peony's efficacy is superior. This is a millennium-old secret unknown to many, now revealed. Red-flowered varieties promote flow; white-flowered varieties tonify. People rarely realize this distinction.
【Prescriptions】 Three old, three new.
For hernia with unilateral swelling and abdominal distension preventing movement: Equal parts *Mudan Pi* and *Saposhnikoviae Radix* (Fangfeng). Powdered, taken with wine, 2 qian per dose, very effective. (*Qianjin Fang*)
Differentiation doubts [Text missing/corrupted]
Traumatic blood stasis: Two liang of *Mudan Pi*, twenty-one *Asida* (Machong) (roasted and pounded together). Taken each morning with warm wine, one fangcun bi, the blood will transform and pass as water. (*Zhenyuan Guangli Fang*)
Golden Prescription [Text missing/corrupted]
To resolve Gu poison: Pounded root of Peony, take one qianbi, three times daily. (*Waitai Miyao*)
【Appendix】 Shugue. *Bielu* says: Bitter, neutral, non-toxic. Mainly treats cough with reverse Qi, chills and fever, Shuluo (scrofula), malignant sores and evil qi. Also named Shugue, grows in Dan Water. Tao Hongjing said: People today do not recognize it. Peony is also named Shugue, and *Porcellio scaber* (Shufu) is also named Shugue. Uncertain which is correct?