[Lotus]

Hi Lotus,

Hi everyone - nice to be back - all sorts of things have been occurring culminating in 'The Chat' with the GP two days ago and I have been taking my own advice to think through all this without too much outside influence . Will spill all soon when I have more time.

Meanwhile - does anyone know if there is any difference in the NBE effects of White Paeony with bark (often termed Red Paeony) and without bark (white)?

When Googled, there is a distinction made in Chinese medicine between the two :-

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In Chinese medicine, Bai Shao, or "white peony" is actually the root, with root bark removed, of the cultivated Paeonia lactiflora plant having any colored flower. Chi Shao, or "red peony", is the root with root bark intact, of the wild-harvested Paeonia lactiflora or Paeonia veitchii, also of any colored flower.


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Source

http://www.jadeinstitute.com/jade/herbal-detail-page.php?show=39&order=chinese_name


Thanks Lotus


M x

Hey there Miranda, long time no hear gurl, welcome back!. Great question! (Thanks for the link).


There's three main peonies, medicinally they appear to be very similar, I can't say for sure what all the main differences are yet, (short on time) so I'll share the info I do have. I'll post more later.

WHITE PEONY, RED PEONY, AND MOUTAN:
Three Chinese Herbs Derived from Paeonia


Red peony and white peony come from similar plants. Both are cold in nature and enter the blood and the liver meridian. Because red peony is cold and bitter, it is able to reduce liver heat as well as heat in the blood. It has a dispersing property, can invigorate the blood, and remove congealed blood, and is therefore often used in treating pain due to blood stagnation.
White peony is less cold but bitter, so it can clear liver heat or heat in the blood, but its function is weaker than that of red peony. One difference is its sour taste, which results in an astringent property. Cold and sourness may generate and stabilize the yin. As it enters the liver meridian, it particularly nourishes the liver yin and blood. It is an appropriate herb when there is yin deficiency with slight empty heat in the blood. In this situation, the main symptoms are dizziness, dry and burning eyes, irritability, and hypochondriac pain and distention.
Like red peony, white peony can also alleviate pain, but pain caused by liver yin and blood deficiency, in which the muscles and tendons lose their nourishment. This pain is cramping in nature, such as in abdominal pain and cramp after diarrhea, menstruation, labor, or cramp of the muscles of the limbs. Moreover, as white peony has a sour taste, it may stabilize the yin and body fluids and inhibit sweating, so is used for spontaneous sweating and night sweating.


CONSTITUENTS AND CHARACTERISTICS
All three of the peony materials used in Chinese herbal medicine contain paeoniflorin, a monoterpene glycoside that contributes the bitter taste. In a test of 19 species and 6 varieties of Peonia, paeoniflorin was the major and characteristic component of all of them, while Paeonia lactiflora was one of three (along with P. tenuifolia and P. veitchii) that had the largest amount, with up to 5.8% paeoniflorin (12, 13), though average amounts are about half that, about 3%. The root epidermis appears to contain a similar amount of paeoniflorin as found in the central root, with one study indicating about 2.3%; it has been suggested that removing the root epidermis to make white peony may simply be wasteful (14). There do not seem to be any studies indicating a notable difference in chemical constituents between red and white peony, though this does not rule out the possibility of a significant difference. Laboratory research shows that paeoniflorin has sedative, antispasmodic, and anti-inflammatory effects. The peony roots also contain slightly modified versions of this basic compound, such as oxypaeoniflorin and benzoylpaeoniflorin.

A simple ketone-paeonol-is an additional main component of moutan (about 1.5% of the root bark); there are also lesser amounts of glycoside compounds derived from it, such as paenoside (paeonol glucoside) and paeonolide (paeonol glucose-arabinose); these are found only in Paeonia suffruticosa and other woody species of Paeonia. These compounds have been shown to be antibacterial, antifungal, analgesic, sedative, and anti-spasmodic (16). In addition, it is reported to reduce lipid peroxidation (15). Paeonol is also a key component of cyanchum (xuchangqing), used as an analgesic for arthritis and anti-inflammatory for skin rashes, listed with herbs that dispel wind-damp (17). Paeonol is the aromatic component that gives moutan its characteristic fragrance and acrid taste. It is easily lost during drying and storage; [paeonol content is used as a quality measure for patent preparations for Liuwei Dihuang Wan (Rehmannia Six Formula) and Jiawei Xiaoyao Wan (Bupleurum and Peony Formula) since it is the main volatile component of those widely used formulas. The pharmacological actions of paeoniflorin and paeonol appear to be similar.

http://www.itmonline.org/arts/peony.htm