Traditionally used for
- Nerves & recovery
- Pain & joints
☯ TCM Properties
Relaxes the tendons and bones, dredges the meridians, expels Wind and invigorates the Blood
Traditional Chinese Uses
Zuan Di Feng ("earth-piercing wind") is here identified with Schizophragma integrifolium, the root-bark and stem (Cortex/Caulis Schizophragmae) being used among the wind-damp-dispelling medicinals. Bland in taste and cool in nature, entering the Spleen channel, it is said to relax the sinews and bones, dredge and free the channels and network vessels, expel Wind-Dampness and invigorate the Blood. It is applied to wind-damp painful obstruction (bi) syndromes with aching, stiff and contracted joints, lumbar and leg pain, numbness and impaired movement, and traumatic injury.
It is typically decocted or, more commonly, extracted in wine as a medicinal liquor, and appears in modern proprietary bone-and-sinew formulas alongside herbs such as Du Zhong and Niu Xi to strengthen the lower back and legs.
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
Zuan Di Feng ("earth-piercing wind") is a regional folk-medicine name that cannot be reliably matched to a single botanical species in the principal modern Chinese Materia Medica references consulted. Similar "wind" (feng) names are characteristically applied to rhizomatous wind-damp herbs in various provinces, but no authoritative source assigns this name to a single binomial. Without verified identification, no responsible morphology, parts used or therapeutic actions can be given. The entry is therefore treated as botanically uncertain.
⚠ Drug Interactions
Schizophragma hypoglaucum (Bai Bei Zuan Di Feng, San Xue Teng)
Chinese materia medica sources record that San Xue Teng, the root bark of the congener Schizophragma hypoglaucum Rehd., is morphologically close to Zuan Di Feng and is entered into prescriptions as an equivalent drug. Because no constituent of either species has been isolated and characterised in the accessible literature, there is no chemical basis on which to say whether the two are pharmacologically equivalent or not. The genus itself is unstable: a 2011 revision in the Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society recognises seven Schizophragma species and five varieties, several of the varieties belonging to S. integrifolium, and recent molecular treatments transfer the whole genus into Hydrangea, with the databases disagreeing on which Hydrangea combination applies to this species. Field surveys record the drug under Hydrangeaceae in some papers and Saxifragaceae in others.
Clinical note: Do not assume that root bark sold as Zuan Di Feng is S. integrifolium rather than a congener; require the supplier's botanical determination. When searching the literature, note that horticultural writing places these plants under Hydrangea and that hits for ornamental Hydrangea are a different search space with different chemistry, so do not read Hydrangea data across to this drug.
Anticholinergic drugs, when Zuan Di Feng is taken within the Osteoking (Hengu Gushang Yuhe Ji) formula
Almost all published clinical exposure to Schizophragma integrifolium reaches patients through Osteoking, a nine-ingredient Yi-medicine oral liquid in which this herb is present at 10 g per 1,000 mL. The same formula contains Datura metel L. at 6 g per 1,000 mL, a tropane-alkaloid drug whose scopolamine and hyoscyamine content is antimuscarinic. The interaction risk belongs to the formula, not to Zuan Di Feng itself, but a practitioner reviewing a patient on Osteoking is reviewing a Datura metel exposure. The composition is stated explicitly in the 2024 multicentre knee osteoarthritis report.
Clinical note: When a patient reports taking Osteoking, read the full ingredient list rather than the marketed indication, and add its Datura metel content to the anticholinergic burden alongside tricyclics, first-generation antihistamines, oxybutynin and similar agents. This caution does not attach to Zuan Di Feng dispensed on its own.
Evidence Tier
Strong evidence · 2 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
1
1 verified · 0 unverified
Randomized controlled trial
0
Other clinical trial
0
Observational / case report
1
0 verified · 1 unverified
In vitro / animal
0
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
Efficacy and safety of Osteoking on fracture healing: a systematic review and meta-analysis
Thirteen randomised controlled trials with 1,123 participants of the nine-herb oral liquid Osteoking, in which Schizophragma integrifolium is one ingredient at 10 g per 1,000 mL. Pooled results favoured Osteoking for fracture healing time, fracture healing rate, swelling regression time, ecchymosis regression time and bone metabolism markers, and no serious adverse effects were reported; mild effects resolved untreated. The authors themselves caution that the pooled data do not support benefit for healing rate at all fracture sites or for pain at all fracture sites, and call for higher-quality primary studies. Registered as CRD42023452430. This is evidence about the formula, and it isolates no contribution attributable to Zuan Di Feng.
Clinical efficacy of Osteoking in knee osteoarthritis therapy: a prospective, multicenter, non-randomized controlled study in China
A prospective non-randomised comparison across 20 Chinese centres, 13 Western and 7 traditional medicine hospitals, recruiting 501 knee osteoarthritis patients and analysing 140 after propensity score matching, 70 on Osteoking against 70 on NSAIDs (loxoprofen sodium or celecoxib) over 8 weeks. Osteoking gave lower visual analogue pain scores at 8 weeks, median 2.00 against 3.00, with no difference in adverse event incidence between arms and 14 events among the 501 recruited. This paper is the source for the formula composition, which lists Schizophragma integrifolium Oliv. at 10 g per 1,000 mL alongside Panax notoginseng, Eucommia ulmoides, Panax ginseng, Astragalus, Carthamus tinctorius, Citrus reticulata, Datura metel and Carapax Trionycis. Non-randomised design and an open comparator; it says nothing about Zuan Di Feng used alone.
Historical Texts
Zhi Wu Ming Shi Tu Kao (Illustrated Investigation of the Names and Natures of Plants), Wu Qijun
Qing dynasty, 1848Yao Cai Zi Liao Hui Bian (Compiled Materials on Medicinal Drugs)
Modern Chinese materia medica compilation, mid-twentieth centuryZhejiang Tian Mu Shan Yao Zhi Zhi (Medicinal Plants of Mount Tianmu, Zhejiang)
Regional medicinal flora survey, mid-twentieth centuryShui and Yi ethnomedical field surveys, Guizhou and Yunnan
Contemporary, documented 2019 to 2025References
- Liu S, Zhang B, Lei Q, Zhou J, Ali M, Long C. Diversity and traditional knowledge of medicinal plants used by Shui people in Southwest China . Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine (2023) [DOI]
- Gao L, Wei N, Yang G, Zhang Z, Liu G, Cai C. Ethnomedicine study on traditional medicinal plants in the Wuliang Mountains of Jingdong, Yunnan, China . Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine (2019) [DOI]
- Li Z, Zhang Q, Li F, Zeng X, Wang T, Geng Y, Zhang Y, Yang Y, Wang Y, Ren M, Zhang Z, Yang X, Zhang Y, Yang Y, Wang Y. Wisdom in periodic markets and traditionally used edible & medicinal plants in Jingdong intermontane region, Southwest China . Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine (2025) [DOI]
- Liu W, Zhu XY. Leaf epidermal characters and taxonomic revision of Schizophragma and Pileostegia (Hydrangeaceae) . Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society (2011) [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 Zuan Di Feng.
No notes yet.