Wu Yao, the black root of Tiantai

Wu Yao means “the black substance”, after the blackish-brown bark of the root. It is the spindle-shaped tuberous root of Lindera aggregata, an aromatic evergreen shrub of the laurel family whose crushed leaves give off a pleasant spicy scent. Its benchmark origin is Tiantai County in Zhejiang, a reputation established as early as the Song dynasty: it is even called Tian Tai Wu Yao, and the county is now known as “China’s home of Wu Yao”. A good root is plump and spindle-shaped, sometimes constricted like a string of beads, with white, tender and highly fragrant flesh; straight roots, which are weaker, are set aside.

Moving Qi, dispersing Cold

In Traditional Chinese Medicine, Wu Yao is warm and has a single flavour, pungent: nothing that holds back, nothing that nourishes; the whole plant is movement and warmth. It unblocks Qi that has stalled in the chest, the flanks and the abdomen, and at the same time disperses the Cold that froze it. It is this combination that matters: many plants move Qi, fewer do so while warming. The classical texts judge its power to move Qi greater than that of nutgrass, and an old commentary adds the nuance that makes it easy to work with: it disperses a great deal, but without being violent.

A plant of the three Burners

Most Qi plants work on one level; this one works on three. Through the Lung, it opens the chest; through the Spleen, it undoes fullness in the abdomen and pushes on what stagnates; through the Kidney and the Bladder, it warms the lower body and disperses Cold there. And since Qi is what moves Blood, by restoring the flow of Qi it indirectly helps Blood to circulate. It is often paired with fennel seeds, another pungent, warm plant for Cold in the lower abdomen, which warms the Liver meridian more specifically.