{ "slug": "wu-ling-san", "names": { "pinyin": "Wu Ling San", "chinese": "五苓散", "english": "Five-Ingredient Powder with Poria", "alternate": [ "Wu Ling Wan", "Hoelen Five Formula", "Poria Five Herb Formula" ] }, "category": "dispel-dampness", "source": { "text": "Shang Han Lun (Discussion of Cold Damage)", "author": "Zhang Zhong-jing", "dynasty": "Han", "year": "c. 220" }, "summary": "Five herbs that move stuck water. For swelling, scanty urine, a thirst where water comes straight back up, watery diarrhea, dizziness, and a heavy waterlogged feeling, in a person who is not deeply cold. The everyday water formula, gentle enough for a child's diarrhea.", "picture": "Water that cannot find the drain. Four herbs open the drain, and one twig of cinnamon warms the pipe just enough for the water to flow.", "patterns": [ { "slug": "spleen-dampness", "role": "with water retention", "_links": { "self": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/pattern/spleen-dampness", "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/pattern/spleen-dampness" } }, { "slug": "kidney-yang-deficiency", "role": "mild, with water", "_links": { "self": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/pattern/kidney-yang-deficiency", "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/pattern/kidney-yang-deficiency" } } ], "indications": [ "Swelling of the legs, face, or belly", "Scanty, difficult urination", "Thirst with vomiting soon after drinking", "Watery diarrhea", "Dizziness and a heavy head from fluid", "Headache with fluid retention and a fever that lingers", "Hangover with a swollen face and nausea, when prescribed" ], "signs": { "tongue": "Pale with a white slippery coat.", "pulse": "Floating, or soft and slippery." }, "ingredients": [ { "pinyin": "Ze Xie", "grams": "15", "role": "chief", "job": "Water plantain drains water through the urine.", "herb_slug": "rhizome-of-oriental-waterplantain", "english": "Rhizome of Oriental Waterplantain", "chinese": "", "latin": "Rhizoma Alismatis", "_links": { "herb": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/herb/rhizome-of-oriental-waterplantain", "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/herb/rhizome-of-oriental-waterplantain" } }, { "pinyin": "Fu Ling", "grams": "9", "role": "deputy", "job": "Poria drains damp and supports the Spleen.", "herb_slug": "indian-bread", "english": "Poria", "chinese": "茯苓", "latin": "Poria", "_links": { "herb": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/herb/indian-bread", "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/herb/indian-bread" } }, { "pinyin": "Zhu Ling", "grams": "9", "role": "deputy", "job": "Polyporus drains water strongly.", "unlinked": true, "herb_slug": "polyporus-grifolia-umbellate-pore-fungus", "english": "Polyporus Sclerotium", "chinese": "猪苓", "latin": "Polyporus umbellatus", "_links": { "herb": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/herb/polyporus-grifolia-umbellate-pore-fungus", "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/herb/polyporus-grifolia-umbellate-pore-fungus" } }, { "pinyin": "Bai Zhu", "grams": "9", "role": "assistant", "job": "Atractylodes strengthens the Spleen so it stops making damp.", "herb_slug": "rhizome-of-largehead-atractylodes", "english": "Rhizome of Largehead Atractylodes", "chinese": "", "latin": "Rhizoma Atractylodis Macrocephalae", "_links": { "herb": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/herb/rhizome-of-largehead-atractylodes", "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/herb/rhizome-of-largehead-atractylodes" } }, { "pinyin": "Gui Zhi", "grams": "6", "role": "envoy", "job": "Cinnamon twig warms the bladder's qi so it can turn water into urine.", "herb_slug": "cassia-twig", "english": "Cassia Twig", "chinese": "桂枝", "latin": "Ramulus Cinnamomi", "_links": { "herb": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/herb/cassia-twig", "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/herb/cassia-twig" } } ], "actions": [ "Promotes urination and drains dampness", "Warms the yang and transforms water" ], "how_it_works": "Three drainers open the way out. Atractylodes fixes the Spleen that let the water pool. The small dose of cinnamon twig is the key: without a little warmth the bladder cannot transform water, which is why the person is thirsty and swollen at the same time.", "modifications": [ { "for": "Heat with the water", "remove": [ "Gui Zhi" ], "add": [ "Yin Chen Hao" ], "note": "Toward Yin Chen Wu Ling San for damp-heat jaundice." }, { "for": "Deep cold with swelling", "add": [ "Fu Zi" ], "note": "Toward Zhen Wu Tang." } ], "cautions": [ "Drying. Not for a dry person with scanty urine from yin deficiency.", "Short courses; long use drains the fluids.", "Swelling that is sudden or one-sided, or comes with breathlessness, needs its cause found." ], "forms": [ "teapills", "granules", "powder", "decoction" ], "typical_dose": { "teapills": "8 pills, three times a day, the usual label dose", "course": "A few days to two weeks." }, "cousins": [ { "slug": "zhen-wu-tang", "difference": "Adds aconite for swelling with deep cold. Wu Ling San is the lighter, warmer-weather version." }, { "slug": "ping-wei-san", "difference": "Dries damp in the stomach for bloating and nausea, without draining water through the urine." } ], "commerce": { "store": "supplementsapothecary.com", "store_name": "Supplements Apothecary", "store_slug": "wu-ling-san", "store_url": "https://www.supplementsapothecary.com/supplement/wu-ling-san", "status": "planned", "label_check": "The box reads Wu Ling San or Wan with the characters 五苓. Five ingredients: Alisma, Poria, Polyporus, Atractylodes, and Cinnamon twig." }, "conditions": [ "edema", "diarrhea", "dizziness", "nausea", "urolithiasis" ], "sources": [ { "title": "Bensky, Scheid, Ellis and Barolet, Chinese Herbal Medicine: Formulas and Strategies, 2nd edition", "note": "Composition, actions, indications, and cautions." } ], "meta": { "status": "published", "last_updated": "2026-10-12", "reviewed_by": null }, "_links": { "html": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/formula/wu-ling-san", "self": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/formula/wu-ling-san", "index": "https://www.naturalherblibrary.com/api/v1/formulas" } }