Phellodendron Bark … Classic Formulas
Huang Bai · Cortex Phellodendri
Primary Actions
- Clears damp-heat from the lower burner - used for painful dark urination, leukorrhea, dysenteric diarrhea, jaundice, swollen painful lower limbs, and genital damp-heat where bitterness and coldness are needed to dry and drain downward.
- Drains deficiency fire from Kidney Yin deficiency - an important herb for tidal fever, bone steaming, night sweats, seminal emission, and lower-burner heat signs in formulas such as Zhi Bai Di Huang Wan.
- Resolves fire toxin and damp skin lesions - applied internally or externally for eczema, sores, hot toxic swellings, and damp-heat eruptions with redness, itching, oozing, or foul discharge.
- Directs heat downward from the intestines and bladder - especially useful when damp-heat causes tenesmus, foul diarrhea, or lower-abdominal burning that requires a strong descending bitter-cold approach.
Classic Formulas
- Er Miao San (二妙散) - the classic two-herb combination of Huang Bai and Cang Zhu for damp-heat pouring downward with red swollen legs, genital itching, and lower-burner inflammation.
- Bai Tou Weng Tang (白头翁汤) - from Shang Han Lun, where Huang Bai assists in treating toxic-heat dysentery with tenesmus, blood, and severe intestinal inflammation.
- Zhi Bai Di Huang Wan (知柏地黄丸) - the well-known extension of Liu Wei Di Huang Wan that adds Huang Bai and Zhi Mu to drain deficiency fire from Kidney-Liver Yin deficiency.
Classical Text References
- IDENTITY NOTE: This record is therapeutically identical to bark-of-amur-corktree.json. The duplicate reflects an English naming split rather than a distinct medicinal drug.
- Traditional materia medica established Huang Bai as a bitter-cold lower-burner herb for damp-heat, dysentery, jaundice, skin disease, and deficiency fire patterns.
- Both Phellodendron amurense and Phellodendron chinense are used in the Cortex Phellodendri drug tradition, but the clinical action profile in Chinese medicine remains the same Huang Bai lane.