Albizia Bark (Silk Tree Bark) hé huān pí · 合欢皮

Albizia julibrissin Durazz. (bark)

Nature and flavour. Sweet and neutral; Heart, Liver and Lung systems.

Classed as resolving constraint and calming the spirit, and as moving blood and dispersing swelling. It is the spirit-calming herb chosen when the tradition reads the distress as constraint — the low spirits and poor sleep attributed to emotion held in — rather than as depletion. The second half of its traditional profile turns outward: the classical sources record it for traumatic injury, for fractures, and for swellings and sores, taken internally and applied externally. The flower of the same tree, 合欢花, is a separate entry in the materia medica and is not treated as interchangeable with the bark.