White Mulberry Root Bark / Mulberry Bark

OVERVIEW

What This Record Covers

White Mulberry Root Bark, called Sang Bai Pi, is the dried root bark of Morus alba, the white mulberry, a fast-growing tree of the mulberry family (Moraceae) cultivated across Asia for fruit, leaves, and silk-culture. The medicinal material is the pale, fibrous bark stripped from the root, scraped, cut, and dried for use. In trade it appears as bark strips, slices, powders, granules, and combined cough formulas. The root bark, mulberry leaf, fruit, and twig are different medicinal parts of the same tree, and the label must state which part is present.

English name

White Mulberry Root Bark / Mulberry Bark

Latin name

Morus alba L.

Traditional category

Phlegm Transforming

Nature

Cold

Flavor description

Sweet

Record identifier

sangbaipi

IDENTIFICATION

Identification and Image Notes

The material is pale fibrous bark stripped from a mulberry root, and root bark, mulberry leaf, fruit, and twig are different medicinal parts of the same tree. The dried bark is pale yellow-white, fibrous, and bends rather than snapping cleanly, and it is usually sold as short strips. Poorly identified bark products can be difficult to authenticate by appearance alone, so the stated part and species should be confirmed with the label.

Images are for orientation only, not definitive species authentication; confirm species, part, source, and labeling with a qualified professional or authoritative monograph.

TRADITIONAL CONTEXT

Traditional Use in Context

Traditional records discuss White Mulberry Root Bark for lung heat, cough, wheezing, edema, and downward drainage language, and it appears in classical formulas aimed at heat-related cough and at lung qi that fails to descend, such as Xie Bai San, where it is paired with Licorice and Mulberry Leaf, and in edema-related combinations with other draining materials. Classical texts describe it for cough with heat signs and for fluid accumulation, always within a pattern-based framework. The lung-heat vocabulary is historical, and wheezing and shortness of breath require medical care rather than a traditional label, since these symptoms can reflect asthma, infection, or cardiac causes that need clinical assessment.

PROCESSING CONTEXT

Raw Material, Processing, and Product Form

Root bark is scraped, cut, and dried, and honey-fried material may be listed separately, while poorly identified bark products are difficult to authenticate by appearance alone. Each processed form is a separate record.

The same name can cover a raw material, decoction piece, powder, extract, or finished product, so record the labeled form rather than assuming it; see the safety review for the questions to ask.

COMPARISON

How This Entry Differs

Compare White Mulberry Root Bark with Stemona Root for the cough pair, and with Lepidium Seed for the strong downward fluid language. Mulberry Root Bark is the bark-based member of the group and the one tied to a familiar tree. A single tree supplies leaf, fruit, twig, and root-bark records, so checking the stated part is the first step before any comparison is made. The mulberry leaf tea sold alongside the root bark is a different product entirely, which makes the part label essential.

Use the related-entry links below to compare identity, part, processing, and safety boundaries — similar categories do not make materials interchangeable.

STUDY METHOD

New to these entries?

Read the four-step method in How to Read a Herb Entry before comparing materials.