Mei Gui Hua
StarRosa rugosa Thunb.
Traditionally used for
- Digestion
- Menstrual & women's health
- Mood & calm
☯ TCM Properties
Courses the Liver and Resolves Constraint; Harmonizes the Blood and disperses stasis; Regulates menstruation; Harmonizes the Liver and Stomach; Alleviates Pain
Traditional Chinese Uses
Mei Gui Hua (rose flower) is a mild, aromatic herb with a particular ability to move Liver Qi stagnation and harmonize the Blood without being harsh or drying. It is used for emotional depression, irritability, and premenstrual discomfort — including breast tenderness, mood changes, and irregular menstruation — that arise when Liver Qi fails to flow freely. As both a medicinal herb and a culinary ingredient, it is one of the most accessible and pleasant herbs in the Chinese materia medica.
Western Herbalism Properties
Relationships
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Botanical Description
Rosa rugosa Thunb. (Rosaceae) is a vigorous, suckering, deciduous shrub typically reaching 1 to 1.5 meters tall and forming dense thickets through creeping rhizomes. Stems are erect, densely covered with straight, slender prickles and shorter bristles. The leaves are alternate, pinnately compound with five to nine elliptic to obovate leaflets 2 to 5 cm long, each strongly rugose with deeply impressed veins on the dark green upper surface and a paler, somewhat downy underside; the margins are sharply serrate. Flowers are borne singly or in small clusters at the ends of short shoots and are 6 to 9 cm across, with five (rarely more) broad, slightly cupped petals in shades of magenta-pink to white surrounding many yellow stamens and a strong, clove-like fragrance. The hip is a flattened-globose, glossy red-orange achene-bearing fruit 2 to 3 cm across. Cultivated buds and just-opened flowers are picked in spring and shade-dried as Mei Gui Hua.
Active Constituents
Rugosin A, B and C
Hydrolysable tannin (ellagitannin)Concentration: abundant in the petals; the rugosin series is named for this species and was first isolated from its flower petals
Monomeric ellagitannins carrying a valoneoyl group, isolated from Rosa rugosa flower petals and named after the plant. Rugosins A and B were the most inhibitory of the ellagitannins tested from rose bud extract. They are the chemical reason the flower is astringent as well as aromatic, which is a point of contrast with the purely aromatic qi-regulators.
Rugosin D, E, F and G
Hydrolysable tannin (dimeric and trimeric ellagitannin)Concentration: present in the petals; not routinely quantified in commercial material
Dimeric and trimeric ellagitannins linked through valoneoyl groups, isolated from Rosa rugosa flower petals in 1990. Rugosin D, with tellimagrandin II, shows antibacterial activity against Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus cereus and Salmonella species. Rugosin G has been reported to inhibit recombinant human histidine decarboxylase.
Tellimagrandin II
Hydrolysable tannin (ellagitannin)Concentration: one of the quantifiable hydrolysable tannins of the petals
A widely distributed ellagitannin of the Rosaceae, present in Rosa rugosa petals and one of the compounds behind their antibacterial activity.
Citronellol
Monoterpene alcoholConcentration: a principal component of the volatile oil; citronellol makes up roughly 20 to 55 percent of the monoterpenol fraction of rose oils generally
With geraniol and nerol, citronellol carries the aroma on which this drug's classical reputation as the gentlest of the aromatic qi-regulators rests. The published proportions are for rose oils generally rather than for Rosa rugosa flower bud specifically.
Geraniol
Monoterpene alcoholConcentration: a principal component of the volatile oil alongside citronellol
One of the two dominant monoterpene alcohols of rose volatile oil. As with the whole volatile fraction, it is lost on prolonged decoction, which is why the flower is conventionally steeped or added at the end.
Quercetin and kaempferol glycosides
Flavonol glycosideConcentration: fifteen flavonol glycosides can be quantified in the petals by UPLC and their pattern is species-diagnostic
The flavonol glycoside pattern is what allows a laboratory to tell which Rosa species a batch of Mei Gui Hua actually came from, since the proportions differ characteristically between the sections Cinnamomeae, Gallicanae, Caninae and Synstylae.
Anthocyanins
AnthocyaninConcentration: present in the petals; content varies with cultivar and colour
Responsible for petal colour and part of the polyphenol load; they contribute little that is specific to the drug's traditional actions.
⚠ Drug Interactions
Substitution by other Rosa species and hybrids sold as Mei Gui Hua
This is the most substantial documented problem with this drug, and it is a problem of identity rather than of pharmacology. Fifteen flavonol glycosides were quantified by UPLC in 34 commercial Mei Gui Hua samples and compared by principal component analysis with authenticated Rosa species from the sections Cinnamomeae, Gallicanae, Caninae and Synstylae. Only eleven of the 34 fell in the group corresponding to Cinnamomeae, the section containing Rosa rugosa. Seven clustered with Gallicanae and Synstylae, six sat between groups, and nine formed a new group whose parents were assumed to be complex hybrids drawing on other sections entirely. The authors concluded that commercial Mei Gui Hua must be prepared from hybrids of various Rosa species and that it is not reasonable to assign Rosa rugosa alone as the botanical origin. Earlier morphological, phylogenetic and phytochemical work found that Mei-gui grown around the Tarim Basin in Xinjiang is homologous with Rosa gallica, while northeastern Chinese material is made up of Rosa rugosa hybrids. Because the tannin content, and hence the astringency, differs between these taxa, batches are not therapeutically equivalent.
Clinical note: Do not assume a bag labelled Mei Gui Hua is Rosa rugosa. Note the growing region: Xinjiang material is likely to be Rosa gallica or a gallica hybrid, northeastern Chinese material more likely to involve Rosa rugosa. Where the species genuinely matters, ask for authenticated material rather than relying on the pinyin name.
Oral iron salts and other drugs susceptible to tannin binding
The petals of Rosa rugosa and allied plants contain abundant hydrolysable tannins, including the rugosin series and tellimagrandin II. Hydrolysable tannins complex with iron and with basic drug molecules in the gut lumen, a general and well-characterised class effect. No study has measured this for Mei Gui Hua specifically, and the usual dose of 3 to 6 g steeped as a tea delivers a modest tannin load, so the effect is likely small.
Clinical note: Separate rose tea from oral iron supplements by about two hours. No other routine precaution is warranted.
Dosage
| Form | Amount | Frequency | Duration | Population | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| decoction | 3–6 g | Daily | — | — | 中国药典 2020 【用法与用量】3~6g。 【性味与归经】甘、微苦，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 studiesRecorded 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
0
Other clinical trial
0
Observational / case report
0
In vitro / animal
2
1 verified · 1 unverified
Other / unclassified
1
1 verified · 0 unverified
Show the study
Verified: design read from PubMed for a DOI that resolves to the cited paper Unverified: taken from the study's recorded description
Clinical Studies
Anti-Obesity Effects of Rosa rugosa Thunb. Flower Bud Extracts on Lipid Metabolism Regulation in 3T3-L1 Adipocytes and Sprague Dawley Rats
Extracts of Rosa rugosa flower buds harvested at three blooming stages were compared; the day-3 extract was the most potent and reduced intracellular triglyceride in 3T3-L1 adipocytes without affecting viability. In obese Sprague Dawley rats, 50, 75 or 100 mg/kg reduced body weight by 6.56 to 9.72 percent against high-fat-diet controls, with lower organ weights, reduced fat mass and improved lipid profiles, apparently through AMPK activation. This is one of very few studies performed on authenticated Rosa rugosa flower bud rather than on rose extracts generally, and it is preclinical only.
Botanical origin of Mei-gui Hua in Chinese markets
Fifteen flavonol glycosides were quantified by UPLC in 34 commercially available Mei-gui Hua samples and compared by principal component analysis with authenticated Rosa species from four sections. Seven samples fell into two groups composed of Gallicanae and Synstylae species, eleven into a Cinnamomeae group, six plotted between groups, and nine formed a new group attributed to complex hybrids involving further sections. The authors concluded that commercial Mei-gui Hua is prepared from hybrids of various Rosa species and that assigning Rosa rugosa alone as the origin plant is not reasonable.
Botanical origin of Mei-gui Hua (petal of a Rosa species)
Morphological, phylogenetic and phytochemical comparison of cultivated Mei-gui with authenticated Rosa rugosa found that the morphology and ecology of Mei-gui differ from Rosa rugosa. Material cultivated around the Tarim Basin in Xinjiang showed homology with Rosa gallica, while material from northeastern China was considered to be Rosa rugosa hybrids.
⚠ Safety & Contraindications
Contraindications
Its use is cautious in patients with vigorous fire due to yin deficiency.
Source: Xi S, Gong Y. Essentials of Chinese Materia Medica and Medical Formulas. Academic Press/Elsevier, 2017, pp. 171–182.
Historical Texts
Shi Wu Ben Cao
Ming dynastyBen Cao Zheng Yi
Republican period, early twentieth centuryReferences
- Tsutomu Hatano, Noboru Ogawa, Tetsuro Shingu, Takuo Okuda. Tannins of rosaceous plants. IX. Rugosins D, E, F and G, dimeric and trimeric hydrolyzable tannins with valoneoyl group(s), from flower petals of Rosa rugosa Thunb. . Chemical and Pharmaceutical Bulletin (1990) [DOI]
- Sarangowa Ochir, ByoungJae Park, Makoto Nishizawa, Tsutomu Kanazawa, Minoru Funaki, Takashi Yamagishi. Simultaneous determination of hydrolysable tannins in the petals of Rosa rugosa and allied plants . Journal of Natural Medicines (2010) [DOI]
This information is for educational purposes only and is not intended to replace professional medical advice. Always consult a qualified healthcare provider before using any herbal remedy, especially if you are pregnant, nursing, or taking medications.
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