What it is:
This herb is thebark of the trunk or root of Magnolia officinalis Rehd. etWils., or Magnoliaofficinalis Rehd. et Wils. var. biloba Rehd.et Wils.(family Magnoliaceae). It is produced chiefly in Sichuan, Hubei and Zhejiang provinces,collected in spring, boiled with ginger and then cut into shreds, or sit-baked with ginger juice.

Property:
B itter and pungent in flavour, warm in property, acting onthe spleen, stomach, lung and large intes-tine channels.

Effects:
Promot-ing the flow of qi, eliminating dampness, removing food stagna-tion, and allaying asthma.

Used for:
1. Gastric andabdominal distension of various causes, such as retention of dampness, stagnation of indigested food andstagnation of qi. For retention of dampness in the middle-jiao marked by abdominaldistension, nausea and vomiting, it can be dispensed with atr-actylodes and tanger-ine peel, as in Peptic Powder (Pingwei San); for stagnation of food complicated bystagnation of qimanifested as abdo-minal distension andconstipation, it can be given with rhubarb and bitter (orange,as in Decoction of Three Herbs Including Magnolia (Houpo Sanwu Tang).

2. Cough and as-thma due to accumula-tion of phlegm in the lung. It can be used with ephedra, pinelliatuber and bitter apri-cot kernel, as in Decoction of Magnolia and Ephedra (Houpo Mahuang Tang).

Dosage andadministration: 3-10g,decocted in water for an oral dose.

Precautions:
Itshould be cautiously used in cases ofhypofunction of thespleen and stomach.