Di Gu Pi – Lycium Root Bark – Cortex Lycii

Di Gu Pi

English Name: lyceum root bark, barbary wolfberry root bark, Chinese wolfberry rootbark

Pharmaceutical Name: Cortex Lycii

Medica Category: Deficiency-Heat Clearing Herbs

Properties: Di Gu Pi enters the Lung and Kidney channels; it is sweet and bland in nature and cold in temperature.

What is Di Gu Pi?:

The Chinese Herb Di Gu Pi is the dried root bark of the barbary wolfberry (Lycium barbarum) or the Chinese wolfberry (Lycium chinensis Mill). The barbary wolfberry is the plant from which we get the sweet goji berries found in stores (the berries from Lycium chinensis are actually very bitter!); Di Gu Pi, however, is actually the dried root bark from one of these two plants. The roots are first dug up in the spring or autumn. The bark is then peeled off the roots, dried in the sun, then cut into pieces for use as medicine.

Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) Therapeutic Actions of Di Gu Pi:

Di Gu Pi cools the blood and clears deficiency heat from the bones and muscles to address such symptoms as steaming bones, tidal fever, night sweats and irritability.

Di Gu Pi relieves thirst that cannot be relieved by water intake (as in wasting and thirsting syndrome (xiao ke)).

Di Gu Pi clears Lung heat to address cough with wheezing and shortness of breath, especially when fluids in the lungs have been damaged.

Di Gu Pi cools the blood to stop bleeding when excess heat is forcing the blood out of the vessels.