Bark of Officinal Magnolia

Traditional Use

Primary Actions

• Moves Qi and resolves focal distention - a key herb for fullness, bloating, abdominal pain, epigastric oppression, and food stagnation when stagnant Qi knots in the middle burner.
• Dries Dampness and harmonizes the Spleen-Stomach - used when damp obstruction causes poor appetite, nausea, greasy coating, sluggish digestion, loose stool, and heavy obstructed sensation.
• Descends rebellious Qi and transforms phlegm - classically used for wheezing, cough, chest congestion, plum-pit Qi, and phlegm-damp obstruction of the throat and chest.
• Opens constrained downward movement in the intestines - especially helpful in constipation where Qi stagnation and fullness predominate more than severe dryness or blood deficiency.

Secondary Actions

• Frequently included in formulas to prevent rich tonics or greasy damp-resolving herbs from causing secondary stagnation.
• Its warm aromatic bitterness makes it especially useful when emotional constraint, phlegm, and digestive blockage overlap, as in globus sensation and stress-related nausea.

Classic Formulas

• Ban Xia Hou Pu Tang (半夏厚朴汤) - from Jin Gui Yao Lue, combining Hou Pu with Ban Xia, Fu Ling, Sheng Jiang, and Zi Su Ye for plum-pit Qi, throat obstruction, nausea, and emotional constraint with phlegm.
• Ping Wei San (平胃散) - the classic dampness-transforming formula in which Hou Pu helps move Qi, dry damp, and relieve epigastric and abdominal fullness.
• Hou Pu San Wu Tang (厚朴三物汤) - from Jin Gui Yao Lue, using Hou Pu with Zhi Shi and Da Huang for abdominal fullness, pain, and constipation driven by severe Qi stagnation.
• Ma Zi Ren Wan (麻子仁丸) - includes Hou Pu to move constrained Qi and assist bowel opening in dry constipation with abdominal distention.

Classical References

• Classical materia medica consistently describe Hou Pu as bitter, acrid, warm, and aromatic, entering the Spleen and Stomach to move Qi, dry dampness, and direct stagnation downward.
• Zhang Zhongjing's formulas use Hou Pu repeatedly when fullness, phlegm, and impaired descent are central, especially in Ban Xia Hou Pu Tang and Hou Pu San Wu Tang.
• Sacred Lotus preserves the standard caution that Hou Pu should be used carefully in pregnancy and in clear Qi-deficiency states because its descending, moving action is relatively strong.