Zi Zhu
StarCallicarpa formosana Rolfe
Traditionally used for
- Nose & throat
- Cough & breathing
- Digestion
- Menstrual & women's health
- Skin
Cautions & contraindications
- Bleeding disorders
☯ TCM Properties
Retains Blood and stops bleeding; Resolves toxicity and treats burns and sores
Traditional Chinese Uses
Folium Callicarpae Formosanae (Zi Zhu Ye), the leaf and twig of Callicarpa formosana, is a bitter, astringent, cool herb that regulates the Blood and enters the Liver, Lung, and Stomach channels. Its chief action is to cool the Blood and stop bleeding, used both internally and topically for hematemesis, hemoptysis, epistaxis, blood in the stool or urine, and uterine bleeding, as well as traumatic hemorrhage. It also resolves toxicity and reduces swelling, applied to burns, scalds, sores, and inflamed throat. An officially listed source plant in the 2020 Chinese Pharmacopoeia, it is typically decocted 10-15 g (or 30-60 g fresh), or given as powder 1.5-3 g; the powdered or fresh-crushed leaf is applied directly to wounds to arrest bleeding and promote healing.
Western Herbalism Properties
Relationships
Full-screen graph →Click a node for details · double-click to expand it · Ctrl/⌘ + scroll or two fingers to zoom and pan.
Botanical Description
Zi Zhu is the leaf and tender twig of Callicarpa formosana (Lamiaceae, formerly Verbenaceae), a deciduous shrub 1-4 m tall of southern China, Taiwan and adjacent regions. Branchlets are quadrangular and densely covered with yellowish-grey stellate tomentum. Leaves are opposite, ovate to elliptic, 6-15 cm long, with serrate margins, an acuminate apex, and undersides densely stellate-hairy and dotted with minute yellow glands. Dense, shortly stalked axillary cymes bear many small lilac to purplish tubular flowers with four short corolla lobes and four exserted stamens. The fruit is a globose purple drupe about 2 mm across. The leaves and tender twigs are used to cool the blood and stop bleeding, resolve toxicity and treat burns and sores.
Thickets, forest margins and open slopes in low mountains and lowlands of subtropical southern China.
Active Constituents
3,4',5,7-Tetramethoxyflavone
PolymethoxyflavoneConcentration: isolated from the fresh leaves; no quantitative figure reported
Reported as a new natural product from the fresh leaves of Callicarpa formosana by Chen, Lai and Wu in 1986. It is a structural marker of this species rather than a compound with an established action in the drug.
3,3',4',5,7-Pentamethoxyflavone
PolymethoxyflavoneConcentration: isolated from the fresh leaves; no quantitative figure reported
The second of the two flavones first described from Callicarpa formosana leaves in the 1986 isolation study.
Luteolin
FlavoneConcentration: quantified by HPLC-PDA in Callicarpae Formosanae Folium; content varied appreciably between commercial batches in the 2023 quality survey
One of the small-molecule markers used to judge the quality of the leaf drug. Sun and colleagues found luteolin content, along with polysaccharide and ursolic acid content, to be inconsistent across commercial samples, which is the practical quality problem with this drug.
Ursolic acid
Pentacyclic triterpene (ursane)Concentration: present in the leaves; content varied between commercial samples in the 2023 quality survey
Isolated from the fresh leaves in 1986 and used as a quantitative marker in the 2023 holistic quality evaluation. Ursolic acid is anti-inflammatory in many systems but has not been shown to account for the haemostatic action for which the drug is used.
2alpha,3alpha-Dihydroxyurs-12-en-28-oic acid
Pentacyclic triterpene (ursane)Concentration: isolated from the fresh leaves; no quantitative figure reported
A hydroxylated ursane triterpene reported alongside ursolic acid from Callicarpa formosana leaves.
Clerodane and labdane diterpenoids (including kolavic acid derivatives)
DiterpenoidConcentration: twelve diterpenoids, six of them previously undescribed, isolated from the leaves in 2025
The most recently characterised class from this species. Gao and colleagues found that one clerodane, 2-ethoxy-kolavic acid 15-methyl ester, was anti-inflammatory in vivo, and that kolavic acid and a labdane acid were hepatoprotective against acetaminophen toxicity in HepG-2 cells. Diterpenes are the chemically distinctive group of the genus Callicarpa.
Iridoid glycosides
Iridoid glycosideConcentration: isolated from twigs and leaves of Callicarpa formosana var. formosana; no quantitative figure reported
New iridoid glycosides were described from the twigs and leaves of the typical variety in 2010. Their pharmacology in this drug is unstudied.
Leaf polysaccharides
PolysaccharideConcentration: total polysaccharide content and molecular weight distribution vary between commercial batches of the leaf drug
Sun and colleagues showed that polysaccharides are a major constituent class of Callicarpae Formosanae Folium and that their content is one of the least consistent parameters across commercial material. Polysaccharide content is not covered by small-molecule marker assays, so a batch can pass a flavone assay and still differ substantially in polysaccharide load.
⚠ Drug Interactions
Other Callicarpa drugs traded as Zi Zhu (Callicarpa kwangtungensis, C. macrophylla, C. nudiflora, C. dichotoma, C. cathayana, C. giraldii)
Zi Zhu is a shared pinyin name, not a single drug. The leaf drug Callicarpae Formosanae Folium is Callicarpa formosana, but Guang Dong Zi Zhu is the dried stems and leaves of C. kwangtungensis, Da Ye Zi Zhu is the leaf or leafy twig of C. macrophylla, and Luo Hua Zi Zhu is C. nudiflora; the classical Zi Zhu of the materia medica tradition has additionally been assigned to the leaves of C. dichotoma, C. cathayana and C. giraldii. These differ both in species and in plant part, stems and leaves versus leaf alone. Almost all of the published haemostatic and antithrombotic pharmacology of the group has been done on C. nudiflora and C. kwangtungensis, not on C. formosana, so an evidence claim made for one is routinely transferred to another in error.
Clinical note: Order by the full drug name and species rather than by Zi Zhu alone, and check whether the material supplied is leaf only or stems with leaves. Do not carry evidence from Callicarpa nudiflora preparations over to this drug.
Warfarin, direct oral anticoagulants and antiplatelet drugs
The review of the genus by Tu and colleagues records haemostatic activity among the in vitro and in vivo effects shown for Callicarpa extracts and isolates, and the drug is prescribed to stop bleeding. But no controlled study of Callicarpa formosana on human coagulation parameters exists, and the coagulation work in the genus was done on other species. The interaction is inferred from the intended action, not measured.
Clinical note: Monitor anticoagulation markers as for any new herbal addition. Do not assume the herb will meaningfully oppose anticoagulation, and do not rely on it to do so.
Evidence Tier
Limited evidence · 1 studyRecorded 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
1
0 verified · 1 unverified
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
Bioactive diterpenoids from the leaves of Callicarpa formosana Rolfe
Twelve diterpenoids, five undescribed clerodanes and one undescribed labdane among them, were isolated from Callicarpa formosana leaves and structurally assigned by high-resolution mass spectrometry, NMR and electronic circular dichroism. In screening, the clerodane 2-ethoxy-kolavic acid 15-methyl ester showed anti-inflammatory activity in vivo, while kolavic acid and 18-hydroxy-13-methyl-labda-7,13-diene-15-oic acid were hepatoprotective against acetaminophen-induced toxicity in HepG-2 cells. This is one of the few pharmacology reports that used this species rather than a congener; it does not address haemostasis.
Historical Texts
Ben Cao Shi Yi
Tang dynasty, compiled by Chen Cangqi about 739 CEReferences
- Chen RS, Lai JS, Wu TS. Studies on the Constituents of Callicarpa Formosana Rolfe . Journal of the Chinese Chemical Society (1986) [DOI]
- Sun W, Xu JD, Zhang W, Guo MF, Kong M, Zhu H, Zhou SS, Wu CY, Li SL, Mao Q. Holistic quality evaluation of Callicarpae Formosanae Folium by multi-chromatography-based qualitative and quantitative analysis of polysaccharides and small molecules . Journal of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Analysis (2023) [DOI]
- Tu Y, Sun L, Guo M, Chen W. The medicinal uses of Callicarpa L. in traditional Chinese medicine: An ethnopharmacological, phytochemical and pharmacological review . Journal of Ethnopharmacology (2013) [DOI]
- Wang YM, Xiao H, Liu JK, Wang F. New iridoid glycosides from the twigs and leaves of Callicarpa formosana var. formosana . Journal of Asian Natural Products Research (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.
📝 Notes
Public notes from the community and your own private notes on Zi Zhu.
No notes yet.