（《本经》中品）
【释名】鼠姑（《本经》）、鹿韭（《本经》）、百两金（《唐本》）、木芍药（《纲目》）、
花王。时珍曰∶牡丹，以色丹者为上，虽结子而根上生苗，故谓之牡丹。唐人谓之木芍药，
以其花似芍药，而宿干似木也。群花品中，以牡丹第一，芍药第二，故世谓牡丹为花王，芍
药为花相。欧阳修《花谱》所载，凡三十余种。其名或以地，或以人，或以色，或以异，详
见本书。
【集解】《别录》曰∶牡丹生巴郡山谷及汉中，二月、八月采根阴干。
弘景曰∶今东间亦有，色赤者为好。
恭曰∶生汉中、剑南。苗似羊桃，夏生白花，秋实圆绿，冬实赤色，凌冬不凋。根似芍
药，肉白皮丹。土人谓之百两金，长安谓之吴牡丹者，是真也。今俗用者异于此，别有臊气
也。
炳曰∶今出合州者佳，和州、宣州者并良。白者补，赤者利。
大明曰∶此便是牡丹花根也。巴、蜀、渝、合州者上，海盐者次之。
颂曰∶今丹、延、青、越、滁、和州山中皆有，但花有黄紫红白数色。此当是山牡丹，
其茎梗枯燥，黑白色。二月于梗上生苗叶，三月开花。其花叶与人家所种者相似，但花瓣止
五六叶尔。五月结子黑色，如鸡头子大。根黄白色，可长五七寸，大如笔管。近世人多贵重，
欲其花之诡异，皆秋冬移接，培以壤土，至春盛开，其状百变。故其根性殊失本真，药中不
可用此，绝无力也。
宗 曰∶牡丹花亦有绯者、深碧色者。惟山中单叶花红者，根皮入药为佳。市人或以枝
梗皮充之，尤谬。
时珍曰∶牡丹，惟取红白单瓣者入药。其千叶异品，皆人巧所致，气味不纯，不可用。
《花谱》载丹州、延州以西及褒斜道中最多，与荆棘无异，土人取以为薪，其根入药尤妙。
凡栽花者，根下着白蔹末辟虫，穴中点硫黄杀蠹，以乌贼骨针其树必枯，此物性，亦不可不
知也。
根皮
【修治】 曰∶凡采得根晒干，以铜刀劈破去骨，锉如大豆许，用清酒拌蒸，从巳至未，
晒干用。
【气味】辛，寒，无毒。《别录》曰∶苦，微寒。普曰∶神农、岐伯∶辛。雷公、桐君∶
苦，无毒。黄帝∶苦，有毒。
好古曰∶气寒，味苦、辛，阴中微阳，入手厥阴、足少阴经。
之才∶畏贝母、大黄、菟丝子。大明曰∶忌蒜、胡荽，伏砒。
【主治】寒热，中风螈 ，惊痫邪气，除症坚瘀血留舍肠胃，安五脏，疗痈疮（《本经》）。
除时气头痛，客热五劳，劳气头腰痛，风噤癞疾（《别录》）。久服轻身益寿（吴普）。治冷气，
散诸痛，女子经脉不通，血沥腰痛（甄权）。通关腠血脉，排脓，消扑损瘀血，续筋骨，除
风痹，落胎下胞，产后一切冷热血气（大明）。治神志不足，无汗之骨蒸，衄血吐血（元素）。
和血生血凉血，治血中伏火，除
【发明】元素曰∶牡丹乃天地之精，为群花之首。叶为阳，发生也；花为阴，成实也。
丹者赤色，火也。故能泻阴胞中之火。四物汤加之，治妇人骨蒸。又曰∶牡丹皮入手厥阴、
足少阴，故治无汗之骨蒸；地骨皮入足少阴、手少阳，故治有汗之骨蒸。神不足者手少阴
，志不足者足少阴，故仲景肾气丸用之，治神志不足也。又能治肠胃积血，及吐血、衄血
，必用之药，故犀角地黄汤用之。
杲曰∶心虚，肠胃积热，心火炽甚，心气不足者，以牡丹皮为君。
时珍曰∶牡丹皮治手、足少阴、厥阴四经血分伏火。盖伏火即阴火也，阴火即相火也。
古方惟以此治相火，故仲景肾气丸用之。后人乃专以黄柏治相火，不知牡丹之功更胜也。此
乃千载秘奥，人所不知，今为拈出。赤花者利，白花者补，人亦罕悟，宜分别之。
【附方】旧三，新三。
疝偏坠，气胀不能动者。牡丹皮、防风等分。为末，酒服二钱，甚效。（《千金方》）
辨疑》）
伤损瘀血∶牡丹皮二两，虻虫二十一枚（熬过同捣末。）每旦温酒服方寸匕，血当化为
水下。（《贞元广利方》）
金方》）
解中蛊毒∶牡丹根捣末，服一钱匕，日三服。（《外台秘要》）
【附录】鼠姑《别录》曰∶味苦，平，无毒。主咳逆上气，寒热鼠 ，恶疮邪气。一
名，生丹水。弘景曰∶今人不识，而牡丹一名鼠姑，鼠妇亦名鼠姑，未知孰是？
【《神农本草经》列为中品】
【名称解释】鼠姑（出自《神农本草经》）、鹿韭（出自《神农本草经》）、百两金（出自《新修本草》）、木芍药（出自《本草纲目》）、花王。李时珍说：牡丹，以花色为红色的为上品，虽然它结种子但根部能生出幼苗，所以称为“牡丹”。唐人称之为木芍药，是因为它的花形像芍药，而老茎像树木一样木质化。在群花品第中，牡丹排第一，芍药排第二，所以世人称牡丹为花王，芍药为花相。欧阳修《花谱》记载的，共有三十多种。它们的名字有的因地域得名，有的因人得名，有的因颜色得名，有的因奇异特征得名，详见本书其他部分。
【采收与产地】《名医别录》说：牡丹生长在巴郡山谷及汉中地区，二月、八月采集根部，阴干。
陶弘景说：现在江东地区也有，色赤的为好。
苏恭说：生长在汉中、剑南地区。幼苗像羊桃，夏天开白花，秋天果实圆且绿，冬天果实呈红色，越冬不凋谢。根像芍药，肉质白色外皮红色。当地人叫它百两金，长安人叫它吴牡丹的，才是真品。现在市面上使用的与此不同，另外有腥臊气味。
寇炳说：现在出产于合州的最好，和州、宣州的也优良。白色的具有补益作用，红色的具有通利作用。
孟诜说：这就是牡丹花的根。巴、蜀、渝、合州出产的上品，海盐出产的次之。
苏颂说：现在丹州、延州、青州、越州、滁州、和州的山中都有，只是花朵有黄、紫、红、白几种颜色。这应当是山牡丹，其茎梗干枯，呈黑白色。二月在茎梗上生苗叶，三月开花。它的花叶与人家种植的相似，只是花瓣只有五六片罢了。五月结黑色种子，如鸡头子大小。根黄白色，可长五七寸，粗如笔管。近代人多贵重它，想要花朵怪异，都在秋冬时节移栽嫁接，用壤土培护，到春天盛开，形状千变万化。所以它的根部性质完全失去了本真，药用中不可使用这种，完全没有效力。
陈承说：牡丹花也有绯色的、深碧色的。只有山中单叶红花者，其根皮入药为佳。市井之人有时用枝梗皮冒充，尤其荒谬。
李时珍说：牡丹，只取红白单瓣者入药。那些千叶异种，都是人工技巧造成的，气味不纯正，不可使用。《花谱》记载丹州、延州以西及褒斜道中最多，与荆棘无异，当地人取作柴薪，其根入药尤为奇妙。凡是栽种花卉的人，根下撒白蔹粉末以驱虫，穴中点硫黄以杀蛀虫，如果用乌贼骨针刺树必枯死，这是该物的特性，也不可不知道。
【根皮】
【炮制方法】雷敩说：凡是采得根部晒干，用铜刀劈破去掉木质心，锉成如大豆大小的颗粒，用清酒拌蒸，从巳时到未时，晒干后使用。
【性味】辛，寒，无毒。《名医别录》说：苦，微寒。吴普说：神农、岐伯认为：辛。雷公、桐君认为：苦，无毒。黄帝认为：苦，有毒。
李杲说：气寒，味苦、辛，属阴中微阳，入手厥阴心包经、足少阴肾经。
徐之才说：畏贝母、大黄、菟丝子。孟诜说：忌蒜、胡荽，能伏砒。
【主治功效】治疗寒热，中风抽搐，惊痫邪气，消除症坚瘀血停留肠胃，安五脏，治疗痈疮（出自《神农本草经》）。
治疗时气头痛，客热五劳，劳气引起的头腰痛，风噤癞疾（出自《名医别录》）。长期服用轻身益寿（吴普）。治疗冷气，散各种疼痛，女子经脉不通，血沥腰痛（甄权）。通关腠血脉，排脓，消除跌扑损伤瘀血，续接筋骨，除风痹，落胎下胞，产后一切冷热血气病证（孟诜）。治疗神志不足，无汗之骨蒸，衄血吐血（张元素）。和血生血凉血，治疗血中伏火，除……
【发明】张元素说：牡丹是天地之精华，为群花之首。叶为阳，主发生；花为阴，主成实。丹者即红色，属火。所以能泻阴胞中之火。四物汤中加入它，治疗妇人骨蒸。又说：牡丹皮入手厥阴、足少阴经，所以治疗无汗之骨蒸；地骨皮入足少阴、手少阳经，所以治疗有汗之骨蒸。神不足者属手少阴，志不足者属足少阴，所以张仲景肾气丸中使用它，治疗神志不足。又能治疗肠胃积血，以及吐血、衄血，是必用之药，所以犀角地黄汤中使用它。
朱震亨说：心虚，肠胃积热，心火炽盛，心气不足者，以牡丹皮为君药。
李时珍说：牡丹皮治疗手、足少阴、厥阴四经血分伏火。所谓伏火即阴火，阴火即相火。古方只用此药治疗相火，所以张仲景肾气丸中使用它。后人却专门用黄柏治疗相火，不知道牡丹的功效更胜一筹。这是千年的秘密奥妙，人们所不知，今天为此揭示出来。红花者利，白花者补，人们也很少领悟，应该加以区分。
【附方】旧方三首，新方三首。
疝气偏坠，气胀不能动者。牡丹皮、防风等分。研为末，酒服二钱，效果很好。（《千金方》）
辨疑》）
伤损瘀血：牡丹皮二两，虻虫二十一枚（炒过后同捣为末）。每早晨温酒服方寸匕，血当化为水排出。（《贞元广利方》）
金方》）
解中蛊毒：牡丹根捣末，服一钱匕，每日三次服用。（《外台秘要》）
【附录】鼠姑《名医别录》说：味苦，平，无毒。主治咳逆上气，寒热鼠瘰，恶疮邪气。一名鼠姑，生于丹水。陶弘景说：现在人不认识，而牡丹一名鼠姑，鼠妇亦名鼠姑，不知道哪个是正确的？
[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?