Tonify yang
Rou Gui
肉桂
Cinnamon bark
Cinnamomum cassia (bark)
Hot bark that returns fire to the source, in the classical phrase.
Not for self-dosing. This page is not a formula, not a strength, and not a substitute for a licensed herbalist or physician.
Category
Hot · Acrid, Sweet
Meridians entered
Traditional uses
The thick bark, not Gui Zhi the twig. Used for a deep cold picture: cold limbs, cold lower abdomen, and a yang that is not holding. “Returning fire to the mingmen” is the phrase used when erectile difficulty is taught as kidney yang. Kitchen cinnamon is not the same dose, and neither is a treatment for ED.
Common pairings
- Shu Di Huang 熟地黄
Hot and rich. The bark is sometimes added so the heavy yin tonic still circulates.
- Du Zhong 杜仲
Two kidney warmers, bark hotter than eucommia.
Cautions
Not for self-dosing. Not in pregnancy in ordinary self-care. Not with bleeding. Heating. Cassia cinnamon in food quantities can also matter for the liver if it is a daily supplement — do not add capsules on a whim.