Spring semester has begun, replete with a full course load. Amidst the classes I normally teach, I got a late request to teach Chinese herbal medicine review. I haven’t taught an herb review course in (checks watch) like 13 years or something, so it is a bit of a scramble to put it together and I’m having to do some review myself. Last week kicked it off with exterior-resolving and heat-clearing herbs. Since it’s been a couple of weeks since I posted here, I decided to goof off from stacking powerpoint slides to do a quick piece on a selected herb from one of the aforementioned categories. So, for my students and my readers, here’s some notes on Radix Saposhnikoviae, also known as fángfēng.
The Basics
Wiseman and Brand (2020) list the basics as such:
Fángfēng
Radix Saposhnikoviae
A.K.A. Siler
Category: Warm acrid exterior resolving
Flavor and nature: Acrid, sweet, slightly warm
Channel entry: bladder, liver, spleen
Dispels wind, resolves the exterior: wind-cold patterns with headache, body aches, aversion to cold.
Overcomes dampness, relieves pain: wind-cold-damp bì, hypertonic limbs
Resolves tetany: Lockjaw, convulsions
Also used for liver-spleen disharmony with painful diarrhea [reference the formula Tòng Xiè Yào Fāng, Pain and Diarrhea Formula]
From the Pre-Modern Era
I’m including a couple of entries from some Qīng era pharmacopeiae. First here is the entry from Běncǎo Jīngjiě [Materia Medica Explanation本草經解, 1724] attributed to Yè Tiānshì:
【防風】
氣溫。味甘。無毒。主大風頭眩痛。惡風風邪。目盲無所見。風行周身。骨節疼痛。久服輕身。
防風氣溫。稟天春和風木之氣。入足厥陰肝經。味甘無毒。得地中正之土味。入足太陰脾經。氣味俱升。陽也。肝為風木。其經與督脈會於巔頂。大風之邪入肝。則行於陽位。故頭眩痛。其主之者。溫以散之也。傷風則惡風。惡風風邪。在表之風也。肝開竅於目。目盲無所見。在肝經之風也。風行周身。在經絡之風也。骨節疼痛。風在關節而兼濕也。蓋有濕則陽氣滯而痛也。皆主之者。風氣通肝。防風入肝。甘溫發散也。脾主肌肉。濕則身重矣。久服輕身者。風劑散濕。且引清陽上達也。
制 方:
防風同白芍、黃耆。治表虛自汗。同荊芥、白芷、生地、地榆、黃耆。治破傷風。
[Fángfēng]
Qì warm, taste sweet, nontoxic. Masters great wind in the head with dizziness and pain, aversion to wind and wind evil, blindness and vision loss, wind moving throughout the body, cold pain in the bones and joints. Taking for a prolonged time will lighten the body.
Fángfēng’s qì is warm. It is endowed by heaven with springtime’s harmonious qì of wind and wood. It enters the foot juéyīn liver channel. Its taste is sweet and it is non-toxic. It gets the pure earth flavor from within the soil. It enters the foot tàiyīn spleen channel. Together its qì and flavor ascend. It is yáng. The liver is wind and wood. Its channel along with the dū mài meet at the vertex. The evil of great wind enters the liver and goes to the yáng locations [of the body], so there is dizziness and pain of the head. This [medicinal] masters it. It is warm so it disperses. If there is injury by wind, there will be aversion to wind. If there is aversion to wind, there is wind evil. The wind is at the exterior. The liver opens to the orifice of the eyes, [so there is] blindness and loss of vision. If there is wind in the liver channel, the wind will move throughout the whole body. This is wind in the channels and network vessels. If there is cold pain in the bones and joints, this is wind in the joints along with dampness. The dampness makes the yáng qì stagnate and there is pain. This [medicinal] masters all of that. Wind qì is connected to the liver. Fángfēng enter the liver. Sweet and warm is effusive and scattering. The spleen governs the muscles and flesh. Dampness makes the body heavy. Prolonged use [of this medicinal] makes the body light.
Wind medicinals disperse dampness, as well as guide the clear yáng to the upper burner.
Formulation: Fángfēng with báisháo [Rx Paeoniae Alba] and huángqí [Rx Astragali] treats exterior vacuity with spontaneous sweating. With jīngjiè [Hb Schizonepetae], báizhǐ [Rx Angelicae Dahuricae], shēngdì [Rx Rehmanniae], dìyú [Rx Sanguisorbae], and huángqí it treats lockjaw.
This is more or less in line with what we learn about this herb today, with the exception of the ophthalmology applications. The eye indications show up in various formularies, dating back to at least the Sòng, for example in Yīxué Qǐyuán [Expounding on the Origin of Medicine, 醫學啟源, 1186] by Zhāng Yuánsù 張元素 :
凡眼暴發赤腫，以防風、黃芩為君以瀉火；和血為佐，黃連、當歸是也；兼以各經藥引之。凡目昏暗，以熟地黃、當歸根為君，以羌活、防風、甘菊花、甘草之類為佐。
Any sudden onset of redness and swelling of the eyes, use fángfēng and huángqín [Rx Scutellariae Baicalensis] as the sovereign [medicinals] to drain fire; to harmonize blood, use huánglián [Rz Coptidis] and dāngguī [Rx Angelicae sinensis] as the assistants; at the same time use medicinals that guide to the different channels. Any clouded vision, use shúdìhuáng [Rx Rehmanniae] and dāngguī root as the sovereigns, and use qiānghuó [Rz et Rx Notopterygii], fángfēng, gān júhuā [Fl Chrysanthemi], gāncǎo [Rx Glycyrrhizae], and such like as assistants.
Some texts emphasize more the earth phase associations of fángfēng, along with its reputation as an emolliant wind medicinal [which we previously touched on here]. Here is a passage from Běn Cǎo Bèi Yào [Essentials of Materia Medica 本草備要, 1694] by Wāng Áng
防風
宣，發表，勝濕
辛苦性溫，升浮為陽。搜肝瀉肺，散頭目滯氣、經絡留濕。
主上部見血（用之為使，亦能治崩），上焦風邪，頭痛目眩，脊痛項強，周身盡痛，太陽（膀胱）經證（徐之才曰：得蔥白，能行周身）。又行脾胃二經，為去風勝濕之要藥（凡風藥皆能勝濕。東垣曰：卒伍卑賤之職，隨所引而止，乃風藥中潤劑。若補脾胃，非此引用不能行），散目赤、瘡瘍。若血虛痙急、頭痛不因風寒（內傷頭痛）、泄瀉不因寒濕、火升發嗽、陰虛盜汗、陽虛自汗者並禁用（同黃耆、芍藥，又能實表止汗；合黃耆、白朮，名玉屏風散，固表聖藥。黃耆得防風而功益大，取其相畏而相使也）。
Fángfēng
Diffuses, effuses the exterior and overcomes dampness
Acrid and bitter with a warm nature, ascends and floats as it is yáng. Tracks the liver and drains the lung, disperses stagnant qì in the head and eyes and dampness lodged in the channels and network vessels.
Masters bleeding in the upper part of the body (one can also use for flooding), wind evil in the upper burner, headache and dizzy vision, pain of the spine and pulling of the nape, generalized pain of the whole body, and tàiyáng (urinary bladder) channel patterns (Xú Zhīcái said: with cōngbái [Blb Allii Fistulosi] it can move through the whole body). It also moves through the two channels of spleen and stomach and is an essential medicinal for eliminating wind and overcoming dampness (all wind medicinals are able to overcome dampness. Dōngyuán said: a foot soldier’s lowly duty is to go to where he is led and then stop there. [Fángfēng] is the emolliant medicinal among wind herbs. If one [wants to] supplement the spleen and stomach, it is not possible to go there without this herb as a guide.). It disperses redness of the eyes and sores. If there is spasm and pulling from blood vacuity, headache not caused by wind and cold (internal damage headache), diarrhea not caused by cold damp, onset of cough from fire ascending, yīn vacuity night sweats and yáng vacuity spontaneous sweating its use is prohibited (with huángqí and sháoyào it can actually stop sweating at the exterior; combined with huángqí and báizhú [Rz Atractylodis Macrocephalae] called Yù Píng Fēng Sǎn, it is an efficacious medicine to secure the exterior. Huángqí and fángfēng [combined] have a greatly increased effect, as they mutually fear yet mutually empower one another).
The reference to flooding [abnormal uterine bleeding] above is not a common indication for this herb today, but it appears in pre-modern texts, for example Běnjīng Féngyuán [Finding the Origins of the Materia Medica Classic, 本經逢原, 1695] by Zhāng Lù [張璐] has this passage:
《經驗方》治婦人風入胞門，崩中不止，獨聖散用一味防風，麵糊酒調丸服。然惟血色清稀，而脈浮弦者為宜。如血色濃赤，脈來數者，又屬一味子芩丸證，不可混也。惟肺虛有汗喘乏，及氣升作嘔，火升發嗽，陰虛盜汗，陽虛自汗者勿服。婦人產後血虛發痙，嬰兒瀉後脾虛發搐，咸為切禁。
Jīngyàn Fāng [Effective Formulas] says: To treat wind entering the womb gate [bāomén] in women, with flooding that won't stop, use Dú Shèng Sǎn [Single Sage Powder], which is one ingredient, fángfēng; mix with flour and wine to make pills and take. However, it is only appropriate in cases of bleeding that is clear and watery, and a pulse that is floating and stringlike [wiry].
So there is fángfēng in a nutshell, both the familiar and less-familiar aspects. And with that, it’s back to work for me. Thanks for reading.
Note: this newsletter is for information purposes only and is not intended as medical advice. Please seek the opinion of a health care professional for any specific medical issues you may have.
References
Wāng, A. (1694). Běn cǎo bèi yào. Retrieved October 22, 2023 from https://jicheng.tw/tcm/book/%E6%9C%AC%E8%8D%89%E5%82%99%E8%A6%81/index.html
Wiseman, N., & Brand, E. (2020). Comprehensive Chinese materia medica. Paradigm Publications.
Yáo, Q. (1926). Jīng xiào Yè Tiānshì běn cǎo jīng jiě. Guǎng Yì Book Company. Retrieved December 14, 2022, from https://jicheng.tw/tcm/book/%E6%9C%AC%E8%8D%89%E7%B6%93%E8%A7%A3/index.html
Zhāng, L. (1695). Běnjīng féngyuán. Retrieved November 4, 2023 from https://jicheng.tw/tcm/book/%E6%9C%AC%E7%B6%93%E9%80%A2%E5%8E%9F/index.html