Paeonia lactiflora / CHI SHAO YAO / Red Peony Root Tincture

Description

Botanical Name – Paeonia lactiflora

Chinese Name – CHI SHAO YAO

English Name – Red Peony Root

Tincture made by a process of hydro-ethanolic percolation, with a ratio of 1 part Red Peony Root to 3 parts liquid. Liquid comprises of 75% water and 25% sugar beet derived ethanol.

Paeonia lactiflora, commonly called Red Peony, is a flowering plant in the Ranunculaceae family. Also known as Radix Paeoniae Rubra in Latin, in Traditional Chinese Medicine it refers to the dried root of Paeonia lactiflora Pall. or Paeonia veitchii Lynch. This herb is produced in most parts of China. Usually the medicinal roots are harvested in spring and autumn.

Difference between BAI SHAO and CHI SHAO

Bai Shao (White Peony Root) comes from one plant, Paeonia lactiflora, whereas official Chi Shao can come from two plants, P. lactiflora and P. veitchii.  The later only produces Chi Shao and is only found in the wild.  The former can produce either bai shao or chi shao and can be either cultivated or wild-crafted.  If it is cultivated and subjected to pao zhi (boiling and scraping off the root bark), it is bai shao.  If it is wild-crafted and used crude, it is chi shao.

In China, Bai Shao and Chi Shao are regarded as two separate medicinals.  Both use paeoniflorin content for quality control testing, but the standard minimum content of chi shao is higher than that of bai shao.

Medicinal Action and Uses

Blood Conditions – Its most important uses and indications are measles in epidemic heat syndrome, hematemesis, nosebleed, discharging fresh blood stool, sore red swollen eyes, swelling, abscesses and boils.

Circulatory – Red Peony Rootpromotes blood circulation, dispels blood stasis. Many sources classify this herb as a blood mover. It can be used to treat pain and swelling (including after trauma), dysmenorrhea, amenorrhea, immobile abdominal masses.

Hepatic –  Because Chi Shao Yao is cold and bitter, it is able to reduce Liver-Heat.

Packaging

Product is supplied in amber PET bottles with tamper evident screw tops.

Packaging

Product is supplied in amber PET bottles with tamper evident screw tops. This keeps the contents fresh and protected from light. Look out for the QR code on the label - you can scan this with your smartphone to download the Certificate of Analysis document for this product.

What is a Tincture?

A herbal tincture is a concentrated extract of one or more herbs. The liquid in a tincture is a combination of alcohol and water. A tincture must contain at least 20% alcohol for preservation purposes. Alcohol concentrations tend to vary between 20% and 60%, but can be as high as 90% in some circumstances. At Herbal Apothecary we generally produce tinctures with alcohol concentrations of 25% - 45%. We use ethanol derived from sugar beat.

How Is A Tincture Made?

To produce the Paeonia lactiflora / CHI SHAO YAO / Red Peony Root Tincture we combine a quantity of herb with a proportional amount of liquid. Depending on the herb and the strength of tincture required this ratio can be 1:2, 1:3 or 1:4. The herb, alcohol and water is placed in a production vessel suitable for the size of the batch.

Traditionally, tinctures have been made by a process of maceration. This is where the herb sits in the liquid and over a period of time the plant cells break down. This allows the plant matter to be released into the liquid. Occasionally the producer might agitate the mixture to help the process along.

At Herbal Apothecary we have spent decades improving our tincture production processes. We use a system called Hydro-Ethanolic Percolation. Percolation is where liquid slowly passes through the herb, from top to bottom. In our case, the liquid is not simply passed through the herb once and then collected. Instead, it is continually cycled through the herb. Hydro-Ethanolic Percolation is a combination of maceration and traditional percolation. The circulation of liquid through a spray head agitates the herb, helping the key chemical compounds to be released into the liquid.

Our production vessels are primarily stainless steel. We use low voltage (24v) pumps to circulate the liquid. We have also developed a system of float switches and relays. These ensure the pumps only activate when an adequate level of liquid is present in the sump at the bottom of the vessel. It can take some time for the liquid to filter through the herb.

We produce most of our tinctures using dried herbs, although we sometimes use fresh. It's important that the size of the pieces of herb in the production vessel are small enough for the alcohol to thoroughly penetrate. No prior processing is required for flowers and leaves which are smaller and more delicate. However, for roots, bark and berries which tend to be tougher and larger we use herbs which are diced up into small pieces. This ensures that the maximum amount of plant material can be extracted into the liquid.

The manufacturing process takes 7 days to complete. Once the process is finished, the herb is pressed to extract every last drop of precious liquid. The Paeonia lactiflora / CHI SHAO YAO / Red Peony Root Tincture is filtered and then stored in bulk containers, before being bottled in smaller 250ml, 500ml and 1000ml quantities.

Click here if you'd like to know more about our herbal tincture manufacturing technology. At Herbal Apothecary we are committed to research - we want to provide a robust evidence base for the products we produce. As a result we review our manufacturing systems and processes in order to ensure we're making best use of the raw ingredients.