Donkey Skin — Classic Formulas
Lv Pi · Corium Asini
Primary Actions
- Serves as the source material for preparing E Jiao - Lv Pi is historically important mainly because processed donkey-hide gelatin is made from it.
- Provides the raw collagen-rich animal material behind later blood-tonic preparations - any nourishing interpretation is usually mediated through cooked and refined gelatin rather than through stand-alone use of raw hide.
- Functions more as a medicinal raw material than as a commonly prescribed independent herb - direct clinical usage literature is much thinner than for E Jiao itself.
Classic Formulas
- E Jiao preparation traditions - Lv Pi is the essential raw material from which donkey-hide gelatin is produced before inclusion in blood-tonifying and bleeding-stabilizing formulas.
Classical Text References
- Historical and trade references treat donkey skin primarily as the source material for E Jiao rather than as a richly developed independent ben cao category.
- Because of that, modern interpretation of Lv Pi necessarily remains more conservative and more source-focused than the interpretation of E Jiao.