Educational information, not medical advice — ask your doctor or midwife.
Ce Bai Ye is the dried leafy twig of the arborvitae tree (Platycladus orientalis). It is a single herb used in Chinese medicine, not a blend. Its best-known job in that system is to slow minor bleeding.
Traditional practitioners give it for nosebleeds, coughing up blood, blood in the urine or stool, and heavy periods. A version soaked in alcohol is also dabbed on the scalp for thinning hair. It turns up in some cough formulas too.
The evidence verdict: this is a long-standing staple of one tradition, but there is almost no human trial evidence behind it. Long traditional use is not proof that a herb works, and that gap applies to every use listed on this page.
No one has shown how Ce Bai Ye works in the human body. The ideas below come from lab dishes and animal tests.
The herb is rich in tannins, plant chemicals that tighten and dry tissue. That is the usual explanation for its old use on small bleeds and weepy skin. Some lab work suggests extracts may shorten the time blood takes to clot, but this has not been confirmed in people.
For hair loss, animal work suggests an extract may block 5-alpha-reductase, a body chemical linked to pattern baldness. That is an early finding in mice, not a result in humans. Treat it as a lead, not a reason to expect hair growth.
Ce Bai Ye comes as dried leafy twigs, a loose powder, or ready-made pills and granules. The dried herb is usually boiled in water to make a strong tea, called a decoction.
A charred form, Ce Bai Tan, is toasted until it is dark. Chinese practice uses this charred form mainly when the aim is to slow bleeding.
A tincture (the herb soaked in alcohol) is dabbed on the scalp for hair loss. The concentrated essential oil is a separate product and must never be swallowed.
Ce Bai Ye has been listed in Chinese herbal texts for well over a thousand years, with roots in the classical era and steady use through the Ming dynasty to today. It sits in the group of herbs said to cool the blood and stop bleeding. It is a staple of that one tradition rather than a herb shared widely across many systems.
See a doctor the same day if bleeding does not stop, if you cough up or vomit blood, or if you see blood in your urine or stool. Get help straight away if you have a fit (seizure), severe vomiting, bad dizziness, or yellowing of your skin or eyes. Stop the herb and call your doctor if you get a rash, swelling of the lips or face, or trouble breathing. Also call your doctor if you take a blood thinner and notice new bruising or clot-like symptoms such as a swollen, painful leg.
Evidence grades and traditional-use labels are explained in our methodology. Nothing here is medical advice.
Reviewed by the HealisticMD editorial team How we grade evidence →
The published evidence for Ce Bai Ye is weak or absent. That usually means no controlled trial has tested it, not that a trial found it ineffective — the two are different, and we grade only what has been published.
What it is typically used for, usual dose, cautions, and the study behind it where real trial data exists.
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