Peony – to invigorate your blood
The beautiful Peony is now flowering in my garden. This plant is one of the most used herb in our Materica Medica. We use both the red peony and the white. The red shown here is for invigorating the blood and is most commonly used for painful periods and for softening lumps and fibroids. As its flavour is sour and bitter it used to cool the blood in hot syndromes, and can be one of the herbs used for the typical symptom of the menopause. The white peony is more nourishing. Also used with painful periods and stops pain especially if experiencing migraine or headaches that is associated with the mense. As with all herbs its use should only be under the supervision of a qualified medical herbalist. Chinese herbal medicine uses a combination of herbs put together to create a dynamic palate to transform the patients pathology. It is never just one herb as that creates an imbalance. It would be like supporting one leg of a table and not the other three so the table would be uneven…. You could not eat off such a table. So enjoy seeing this flower in gardens everywhere knowing that Ancient Chinese Medicine found a use for the root of the peony beyond the beauty of the flower. I wonder how this use was discovered and have yet to come across any research to enlighten me on this fact.