Di Yu Tan (地榆炭; Dì Yú Tàn; Latin: Sanguisorbae Radix; English: charred burnet root) is the root of the garden burnet or long-leaf burnet — a rose-family herb — dried, sliced, and charred until the surface turns black-brown, the dark pieces apothecary shops keep for heat-type bleeding and damp-heat diarrhea. It is slightly cold, bitter, and sour, enters the Liver and Large Intestine channels, and its core actions are to cool the blood and stop bleeding, and to astringe and check diarrhea. It is the astringent stopper for bleeding and loose bowels in the lower burner. The usual amount is 6–15 g in a decoction. It does not need special decoction handling, and it steeps as a tea.
It is not Huai Hua. Pagoda-tree flower is also slightly cold and bitter, but it clears the large intestine's damp-heat first and stops bleeding gently; this charred root astringes first — a more direct stop for obvious bleeding. It is not the raw root either; the raw form leans to clearing damp-heat, and the charred form to astringing the bleed. In a cold weak spleen-stomach — frequent belly pain, loose stools, cold hands and feet — or in the early stage of an acute infectious diarrhea, using it on your own is a poor match. Heavy bleeding, or bleeding that will not stop, needs a clinic first. Do not take it yourself for a long time.
It is used most often for three patterns:
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Blood in stools or from piles, bright red blood, a burning anus, dry bound stools — blood heat or damp-heat settling below
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Sticky sluggish stools with a burning anus, belly pain, a thick tongue coat — intestinal damp-heat
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A cold weak spleen-stomach with loose stools, or early acute diarrhea with a foul smell — seek care / skip it
Slightly cold, bitter, and sour, it is not a daily "bleeding-stop tea" to keep drinking. Astringing when there is no heat, or in a cold weak body, holds the damp or cold in instead of helping.
When blood heat or intestinal damp-heat pushes down — dry weather, spicy food, long sitting — bleeding appears in stools or from piles, bright red with a burning anus; when the damp-heat sits in the bowel, stools turn sticky and sluggish. Di Yu Tan is slightly cold, bitter, and sour. It cools, astringes, and checks, which is why it appears in Di Yu San (Burnet Powder)–type formulas. It holds more than it scatters. In a cold weak spleen-stomach, or with excess pathogen still strong, more makes it worse.
Di Yu Tan is not a catch-all bleeding or diarrhea herb. In a cold weak spleen-stomach, with strong damp-heat or infection, in pregnancy, or with no heat, using it alone is a poor match. Whether it belongs in a formula, and at what dose, should be decided by a licensed Chinese medicine practitioner after pattern diagnosis.
