Phellodendron (commonly known as Huang Bai in Traditional Chinese Medicine) has a long history of use in East Asian herbal medicine, primarily for its purported "heat-clearing" and "detoxifying" properties. In traditional Chinese medical texts, it is sometimes included in multi-herb formulas intended to address symptoms that could overlap with those of appendicitis, such as abdominal pain, swelling, and fever. However, these uses are based on traditional concepts of disease and not on modern biomedical understanding of appendicitis as acute inflammation of the appendix, often requiring surgical intervention.

There is scant to no direct scientific evidence supporting the efficacy of Phellodendron for the treatment or support of appendicitis. Most research on Phellodendron focuses on its anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial properties in vitro or in animal studies, but these findings do not directly translate to clinical efficacy in acute appendicitis in humans. Furthermore, appendicitis is a medical emergency, and reliance on herbal therapy alone is not supported by clinical guidelines or robust evidence. Thus, while Phellodendron may be used traditionally in some contexts for symptoms resembling appendicitis, this use is not backed by strong scientific data, and the traditional evidence is rated as weak.