Xin Yi (Hua)

Xin Yi, also called Xin Yi Hua, is the dried unopened flower bud of Magnolia biondii Pamp., Magnolia denudata Desr., or Magnolia sprengeri Pamp. (Magnoliaceae), all deciduous trees 5-25 m tall native to central and eastern China. The smooth gray bark surrounds a stout trunk; alternate, simple, obovate to elliptic leaves 10-18 cm long emerge after flowering. In late winter or early spring, before leaf flush, large solitary flower buds appear at the tips of the twigs, conical, 1.5-4 cm long, densely covered in long silky brown to silvery-white hairs, enclosing 6-12 fragrant white to pinkish tepals. The fragrant buds are collected just before opening, dried, and used in TCM as the principal herb for clearing nasal passages in rhinitis, sinusitis, and headache associated with wind-cold. The whorled tepals contain volatile oils dominated by 1,8-cineole, citral, and methyl chavicol.