☯ TCM Properties

Category: regulating blood

Temperature: warm

Taste: pungent

Meridians: liver, spleen

Functions:

Dispels Stasis and Stops Bleeding; Moves Qi and Alleviates Pain; Invigorates Blood and Dispels Stasis; Descends Qi and Resolves Turbidity

Traditional Chinese Uses

Jiang Xiang (rosewood, dalbergia wood) is a warm, acrid herb used in Chinese medicine to move Qi and Blood, dispel cold, and relieve pain. Its primary application is for pain from Blood and Qi stagnation — including chest pain, rib-side pain, and traumatic injury — and it has an affinity for the Heart and Liver channels. Its descending quality settles vomiting from rebellious Stomach Qi, and its warming nature makes it appropriate for cold-type pain and stagnation patterns.

Pharmacological Effects

Antithrombotic: Essential oil and its aromatic water (200 mg/kg orally) inhibited experimental thrombosis in rats, raised platelet cAMP in rabbits and increased fibrinolysin activity; isomucronustyrene, hydroxyobtustyrene and methyl 2-hydroxy-3,4-dimethoxybenzoate inhibited prostaglandin synthetase and AA/collagen platelet aggregation.
CNS: Alcoholic extract orally in mice reduced spontaneous activity, antagonized electroconvulsion, prolonged pentobarbital sleep and delayed nicotine convulsions; analgesic on hot plate (500 mg/kg) but not in writhing test.

Source: Zhu YP. Chinese Materia Medica: Chemistry, Pharmacology and Applications. Harwood Academic, 1998, p. 389.

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Botanical Description

Dalbergia odorifera is a medium-sized semi-evergreen tree in the Fabaceae, endemic to Hainan Island and adjacent areas of southern China, growing in low-elevation forests on limestone and granite slopes. It reaches 10-15 m tall with a dense crown and rough grey-brown bark. The alternate, odd-pinnate compound leaves are 12-25 cm long with 7-13 alternate leaflets that are broadly ovate, leathery, glabrous, and dark green. Small whitish to pale yellow papilionaceous flowers are borne in axillary panicles, followed by flat oblong leathery legumes 4-8 cm long containing one to two flat reniform seeds. The mature heartwood is dense, fragrant, reddish-brown with darker streaks, exuding an intense balsamic aroma when cut. The dried fragrant heartwood, taken from old trees, is the medicinal Jiang Xiang. The species is CITES Appendix II listed and critically endangered in the wild.

Active Constituents

trans-Nerolidol

Acyclic sesquiterpene alcohol

Concentration: the dominant volatile; trade quality standards specify 25-60% of the heartwood essential oil, and one steam-distilled heartwood sample assayed 57.4%

The principal aromatic constituent of the heartwood and the compound on which grading of the drug is usually based. Its abundance rises as heartwood forms, so pale sapwood-contaminated material assays low.

Caryophyllene oxide

Sesquiterpene epoxide

Concentration: about 22% of the steam-distilled heartwood oil in the same report

The second major volatile of the heartwood oil, contributing to the drug's characteristic aroma.

Medicarpin

Pterocarpan (isoflavonoid)

One of the phenolic constituents isolated from the heartwood and identified among its antiallergic, anti-inflammatory and cytotoxic components in laboratory assays.

Formononetin

Isoflavone

A heartwood isoflavone used together with naringenin, pinocembrin and isoliquiritigenin as a chemical index of heartwood quality; content correlates with heartwood colour.

Isoliquiritigenin

Chalcone

Inhibits collagen- and thrombin-induced aggregation of human platelets in vitro, together with dense- and alpha-granule release and integrin alphaIIbbeta3 activation. It is also the constituent through which the crude extract suppresses HMGB1 release in inflammation models.

Naringenin

Flavanone

A heartwood flavanone whose content tracks heartwood colour and is used as a quality indicator for the medicinal material.

Pinocembrin

Flavanone

Another of the flavanones used as a colour-correlated quality marker of the heartwood.

Latifolin

Neoflavonoid

One of the neoflavonoids characteristic of Dalbergia heartwood; part of the roughly 175 metabolites catalogued for this species.

Obtusafuran

Arylbenzofuran

Representative of the arylbenzofuran class reported from the heartwood alongside the flavonoids, phenols and quinones.

⚠ Drug Interactions

Warfarin, direct oral anticoagulants and antiplatelet drugs (aspirin, clopidogrel)

Moderate Evidence: Possible

Isoliquiritigenin, a chalcone of D. odorifera heartwood, dose-dependently inhibits collagen- and thrombin-induced human platelet aggregation, granule secretion and integrin alphaIIbbeta3 activation in vitro. The drug is used almost exclusively inside blood-invigorating cardiovascular formulas, so the antiplatelet direction is intended rather than incidental. No human pharmacokinetic or bleeding-outcome study of the isolated herb exists.

Clinical note: Ask about anticoagulant and antiplatelet therapy before prescribing, monitor for bruising and gum bleeding, and discontinue about a week before elective surgery.

Substituted hongmu timbers, chiefly Dalbergia tonkinensis and Dalbergia cochinchinensis

Moderate Evidence: Established

D. odorifera is commercially near-extinct in China and the heartwood commands timber prices, which drives substitution. D. tonkinensis heartwood has been characterised specifically because it is the closest chemical mimic, and its extract profile overlaps with but is not identical to D. odorifera. The whole genus Dalbergia, apart from the Appendix I species D. nigra, has been listed in CITES Appendix II since 2 January 2017 under the genus-wide listing agreed at CoP17, so lawful international movement of the medicinal heartwood needs CITES permits; the exemptions attached to that listing have been revised at successive Conferences of the Parties and cover finished goods rather than crude drug. The classical name Jiang Zhen Xiang was in any case applied historically to several fragrant woods, not to this species alone.

Clinical note: Buy only from suppliers who can produce CITES documentation and a botanical identification; the legal and supply pressure on this species is itself the main reason adulterated material reaches dispensaries.

Dosage

Form	Amount	Frequency	Duration	Population	Notes
decoction (added late)	9–15 g	Daily	—	—	中国药典 2020 【用法与用量】9～15g，后下。外用适量，研细末敷患处。【性味与归经】辛，温。归肝、脾经。 — Chinese Pharmacopoeia 2020, quoted verbatim; route and cautions preserved. Replaces a cleared category-filler value.

Evidence Tier

Moderate evidence · 3 studies

Recorded studies by study design, strongest design at the top. This is a study-design tier only, not a GRADE rating: it does not weigh risk of bias, consistency or precision.

Systematic review / meta-analysis

0

Randomized controlled trial

1

1 verified · 0 unverified

Show the study

Guanxin Danshen Dripping Pills Improve Quality of Life and Cardiovascular Prognoses of CHD Patients after PCI with Anxiety or Depression (GLAD Study): A Randomized Double-Blind Placebo-Controlled Study

Other clinical trial

0

Observational / case report

0

In vitro / animal

2

1 verified · 1 unverified

Show 2 studies

A Dalbergia odorifera extract improves the survival of endotoxemia model mice by inhibiting HMGB1 release
The inhibitory effect of isoliquiritigenin on human platelets in vitro

Other / unclassified

0

Verified: design read from PubMed for a DOI that resolves to the cited paper Unverified: taken from the study's recorded description

Clinical Studies

Guanxin Danshen Dripping Pills Improve Quality of Life and Cardiovascular Prognoses of CHD Patients after PCI with Anxiety or Depression (GLAD Study): A Randomized Double-Blind Placebo-Controlled Study

Cheng-long Wang, Na Huan, Pei-li Wang, Qing-shan Geng, Wen-lin Ma, Li-hong Ma, Hong-yan Jiang, Xiao-ping Meng, Da-wu Zhang, Xiao-jiang Gou, Da-yi Hu, Ke-ji Chen (2022) Chinese Journal of Integrative Medicine RCT Verified: Randomized controlled trial

Randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial in 200 coronary heart disease patients after percutaneous coronary intervention with anxiety or depression, treated for 12 weeks. The active arm improved depression and anxiety scores, angina symptoms and quality of life. Important caveat: the intervention is Guanxin Danshen Dripping Pills, a three-component product of Salvia miltiorrhiza, Panax notoginseng and Dalbergia odorifera volatile oil. It is evidence for the finished formula, not for Jiang Xiang given alone, and the contribution of the D. odorifera oil cannot be separated out.

DOI: 10.1007/s11655-022-3688-3 Link

A Dalbergia odorifera extract improves the survival of endotoxemia model mice by inhibiting HMGB1 release

Hyuk Soo Choi, Jin-A Park, Jung Seok Hwang, Sun Ah Ham, Taesik Yoo, Won Jin Lee, Kyung Shin Paek, Ho-Chul Shin, Chi-Ho Lee, Han Geuk Seo (2017) BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine animal Verified: In vitro / animal

D. odorifera extract given intraperitoneally improved survival in lipopolysaccharide-induced endotoxaemia in mice, and in RAW264.7 macrophages it dose-dependently suppressed release and cytosolic translocation of the late pro-inflammatory mediator HMGB1. Isoliquiritigenin reproduced the effect, identifying it as an active constituent.

DOI: 10.1186/s12906-017-1725-0 Link

The inhibitory effect of isoliquiritigenin on human platelets in vitro

Yingying Wu, Cheng Deng, Yixuan Wang, Zhangyin Ming, Heng Mei, Yu Hu (2023) Annals of Translational Medicine in vitro

Isoliquiritigenin inhibited collagen- and thrombin-induced aggregation of washed human platelets in a concentration-dependent way, with reduced dense- and alpha-granule release and reduced integrin alphaIIbbeta3 activation. This is a constituent-level study; the compound also occurs in liquorice, so it is not unique to Jiang Xiang.

DOI: 10.21037/atm-22-2839 Link

⚠ Safety & Contraindications

Contraindications

It is not suitable for patients with yin deficiency and exuberant fire, bleeding due to blood heat, and constipation with excess pulse.

Source: Xi S, Gong Y. Essentials of Chinese Materia Medica and Medical Formulas. Academic Press/Elsevier, 2017, pp. 213–216.

Historical Texts

Hai Yao Ben Cao

Tang dynasty

Earliest record of the fragrant wood, entered under the name Zi Teng Xiang and later Jiang Zhen Xiang. Described as warm and non-toxic, and used against epidemic qi and household disturbance as much as for internal medicine.

Ben Cao Gang Mu

Ming dynasty

Li Shizhen records Jiang Zhen Xiang for traumatic injury, noting that it can stand in for Mo Yao (myrrh) and Xue Jie (dragon's blood) to disperse stasis and stop bleeding. The name is glossed as an abbreviation of Jiang Zhen Xiang, the incense used to summon the immortals.

References

Xiangsheng Zhao, Canhong Wang, Hui Meng, Zhangxin Yu, Meihua Yang, Jianhe Wei. Dalbergia odorifera: A review of its traditional uses, phytochemistry, pharmacology, and quality control . Journal of Ethnopharmacology (2020) [DOI]
Son Ninh The. A Review on the Medicinal Plant Dalbergia odorifera Species: Phytochemistry and Biological Activity . Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine (2017) [DOI]
Xiangsheng Zhao, Shihui Zhang, Dan Liu, Meihua Yang, Jianhe Wei. Analysis of Flavonoids in Dalbergia odorifera by Ultra-Performance Liquid Chromatography with Tandem Mass Spectrometry . Molecules (2020) [DOI]
Zhongmian Wei, Jia Luo, Ruoke Ma, Yunlin Fu. Chemical composition of Dalbergia tonkinensis heartwood extracts and comparison with Dalbergia odorifera . BioResources (2022) [DOI]

Jiang Xiang

Traditionally used for