By Eric Brand

He Huan Hua (Albizziae Flos) is a medicinal that was first explicitly recorded in the literature in the Qing dynasty (1644-1911 CE). The bark has a much more extensive history of use, and was explicitly listed in Sun Si-Miao’s Tang dynasty classic Qian Jin Fang (Prescriptions Worth a Thousand Gold) and Li Shi-Zhen’s Ming dynasty classic, the Ben Cao Gang Mu (Grand Materia Medica). The plant itself (He Huan) was listed in China’s earliest materia medica, the Shen Nong Ben Cao Jing (Divine Farmer’s Materia Medica Classic) and also appeared in the first classic on pao zhi (Lei Gong Pao Zhi); however, these earlier texts only list the plant and don’t differentiate which part was used.

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A variety of properties have been ascribed to He Huan Hua. For example, the Ben Cao Bian Du (Materia Medica for Convenient Reading) says it nourishes the blood, while the Fen Lei Cao Yao Xing (Classified [text on] the Nature of Herbal Medicines) says that it clears the heart and brightens the eyes. The Sichuan Zhong Yao Zhi says that it unites the heart and mind (zhi, the “mind” of the kidney), opens the stomach and rectifies qi, disperses wind and brightens the eyes, and resolves depression; it is indicated for heart vacuity insomnia. The Dong Bei Chang Yong Zhong Cao Yao Shou Ce (Handbook of Commonly Used Medicinals from the Northeast) says it treats sore throat, while the Jiangsu Materia Medica says that it resolves depression and quiets the spirit, harmonizes the network vessels and relieves pain. Based on chemical tests, extracts of albizzia are even believed to be used as a flavoring agent in the secret recipe for Coca-Cola syrup.

A pretty diverse range of actions, to be sure. But here is where it really gets interesting:

The Shen Nong Ben Cao Jing (Divine Farmer’s Materia Medica Classic) says that it “quiets the five viscera, benefits the heart and mind, and makes a person happy and carefree. When taken over long periods, it lightens the body and brightens the eyes, and allows a person to achieve their desires.”

A famous Chinese professor at Beijing’s Zhong Yi Yan Jiu Yuan (the most famous grad school for Chinese medicine in Beijing) named Zheng Jin-Sheng once presented a fascinating presentation about the evolution of medicinal properties, and I was lucky to learn about some of the content from my teacher Nigel Wiseman. The perspectives that follow are all derived from Zheng’s research.

The editor of the earliest extant version of the Shen Nong Ben Cao Jing was a Taoist priest named Tao Hong-Jing. Elsewhere in his book Tao Hong-Jing says: “According to the Yang Sheng Lun (“On Cultivation of Health”) by Ji Kang, albizzia eliminates anger, while xuan cao causes cares to be forgotten. Poets have spoken of xuan cao and yin an , both of which correspond to what is today known as lu cong, which is not used medically. As to albizzia, few people know about it. Because it is not considered to have any therapeutic effect, albizzia is rarely seen, is neglected, and has fallen into oblivion, just as the methods to achieve immortality are rarely pursued by people any more and have also been abandoned.”

According to Zheng Jin-Sheng, two thousand years ago there was a custom that was summed up in the phrase: “to eliminate someone’s cares, give them wang you, to eliminate someone’s anger, give them he huan.” Wang you, which literally means “forget worry” is an alternative name for xuan cao. By the Jin dynasty, the concept that He Huan eliminated anger and Xuan Cao eliminated worry was common knowledge, said to be something that “both the dim-witted and quick-witted knew." The two plants were symbolic of eliminating worry and anger, just as Western society uses a rose as a symbol of love. (Shao Yao and Dang Gui were also plants with symbolic use, Shao Yao was given to discourage someone from leaving and Dang Gui was used to urge an absent person to return home.)

According to Prof. Zheng, the statement that albizzia “makes a person happy and carefree” is nothing but the “result of a transfer of the symbolic meaning of a popular custom into a therapeutic action.” Tao Hong-Jing’s statement that albizzia wasn’t used medicinally by the people of his time suggests that this action wasn’t rooted in medical practice. In ancient formula books, the bark of He Huan was used to treat pulmonary welling-abscesses, not depression and worry.

As for the name He Huan, which means “union happiness,” it may not actually refer to the herb making people happy. Rather, an investigation of its alternate names “he hun, huang hun, and ye he hua” and other commentary suggests that its name comes from the fact that its leaves close together at night. This is supported by direct statements explaining the meaning of its alternate names by Chen Cang-Qi of the Tang dynasty and Kou Zong-Shi of the Song dynasty. Prof. Zheng suspects that the name He Huan arose from the influence of these names rather than its medicinal action. While these excerpts cannot do justice to the full depth of Prof. Zheng’s presentation, you get the point.

Interestingly, the item used as He Huan Hua in many pharmacies is actually not true albizzia flower but is rather a magnolia flower with similar properties. He Huan Pi continues to be a major medicinal in modern clinical use, but He Huan Hua is not nearly as common by comparison. Whether it is truly medicinal or not is obviously subject to debate. We commonly use it and assume that it has a reliable medicinal effect, but of course we always prescribe it with other medicinals so its action as a single is unclear. Is Prof. Zheng, a world-famous scholar, correct that its medicinal action may be overstated or incorrectly assigned? Whether we agree or disagree, it is certainly a fascinating question.