# Danshen (Salvia miltiorrhiza) *Tan-sh n of Stuart; Chinese sage, red sage; *Salvia miltiorrhiza* Bunge; in pharmacy *Salviae miltiorrhizae radix et rhizoma** **Known today as.** *Salvia miltiorrhiza*, a sage of the family Lamiaceae which Stuart, in 1911, found grown in Shensi, Shansi, and Shantung and common in the Peking mountains, with three to seven hairy leaves and large violet flowers. The root is red outside and purplish within when fresh, and is sold “in short, shrivelled pieces of a bright, brick-red color,” sweetish, like liquorice. The European Medicines Agency’s assessment report divides its more than 200 compounds into water-soluble phenolics, salvianolic acid B among them, and fat-soluble diterpenoids, the tanshinones. Kind: Plant > **Caution.** Danshen interacts with warfarin. The assessment report gathers case reports of patients on long-term warfarin whose INR rose, with over-anticoagulation and bleeding, after taking it, and cites the advice that it should be avoided by anyone taking warfarin; in rats it slowed the drug’s metabolism and raised its levels. The American Herbal Products Association’s safety handbook places it in interaction class C, herbs with known clinically relevant interactions. ## What was it used for? A remedy of the blood. Stuart records it as “credited with alterative, antispasmodic, arthritic, tonic, sedative, astringent, and vulnerary properties,” and “highly recommended in all blood difficulties, hemorrhages, menstrual disorders, and miscarriages.” In China, the Cochrane reviewers note, it is widely used for several diseases, heart attack among them. ## What does modern science say? The European Medicines Agency’s herbal committee declined to adopt any monograph on the root (public statement of 2022). It acknowledged numerous publications but found that the preparations used were often not properly described, that neither well-established nor traditional use could be shown, and that most clinical studies lacked quality, with “poor design, small sample size and use of poorly defined products of uncertain composition and consistency.” A Cochrane review of 2008 on danshen preparations for acute myocardial infarction found only one genuine randomised trial among six studies and judged the evidence “too weak to make any judgement about its effects,” its safety unproven. ## Pharmacognosy and toxicology - **salvianolic acid B**: among the water-soluble phenolics - **tanshinones**: the fat-soluble diterpenoids **Mechanism.** Not established in the sources read for this entry. **Standing.** There is no European monograph: the European Medicines Agency’s herbal committee declined to adopt one (public statement of 2022). A Cochrane review (2008) found the evidence for acute myocardial infarction too weak to judge. ## What lore surrounds it? Under ginseng, Stuart lists danshen among the roots called *sh n*, each acting on its own organ, bistort on the liver and danshen on the heart; the books, he adds, make ginseng the restorer of the ‘yang’ principle and *sha-sh n* the restorer of the ‘yin’. ## What did the older authorities say? **Stuart, *Chinese Materia Medica* (1911).** The root is one of the five astral remedies, the *wu-sh n*, thought to correspond to the five colours and the five principal viscera, spleen, lungs, kidneys, liver, and heart; “This particular one belongs to the heart, and its red color suggests the blood.” ## Sources - Stuart, G. A. (1911). *Chinese Materia Medica: Vegetable Kingdom*, “Salvia miltiorrhiza.” Internet Archive, chinesemateriame00stuauoft. - European Medicines Agency, Committee on Herbal Medicinal Products. *Public statement on Salviae miltiorrhizae radix et rhizoma (Salvia miltiorrhiza root and rhizome ('Danshen'))*. EMA/HMPC/509931/2019, 30 March 2022. - European Medicines Agency, Committee on Herbal Medicinal Products. *Assessment report on Salviae miltiorrhizae radix et rhizoma*. EMA/HMPC/509932/2019, 30 March 2022. - Wu T, et al. (2008). Danshen (Chinese medicinal herb) preparations for acute myocardial infarction. *The Cochrane database of systematic reviews*. PMID 18425903. - European Medicines Agency, Committee on Herbal Medicinal Products. *Public statement on Salviae miltiorrhizae radix et rhizoma (Salvia miltiorrhiza root and rhizome ('Danshen'))*. EMA/HMPC/509931/2019, 30 March 2022. - European Medicines Agency, Committee on Herbal Medicinal Products. *Assessment report on Salviae miltiorrhizae radix et rhizoma*. EMA/HMPC/509932/2019, 30 March 2022. - Wu T, et al. (2008). Danshen (Chinese medicinal herb) preparations for acute myocardial infarction. *The Cochrane database of systematic reviews*. PMID 18425903. --- *Danshen.* In *Materia Medica*, edited by B. C. P. Statema. Version 1, revised 2026-10-16. The Thinking Press. https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/danshen Historical description, not medical advice.