Ling Gan Wu Wei Jiang Xin Tang苓甘五味姜辛汤
Poria, Licorice, Schisandra, Ginger and Asarum Decoction
Ingredients5 herbs
Indications
Cold thin phlegm-fluid retained in the Lung. Yang is too weak to move fluid, so it pools as thin cold phlegm; the absence of thirst and the watery quality of the sputum are what mark it off from a phlegm-heat cough.
Clinical Manifestations
- Cough with copious watery white sputum
- Chest fullness that eases after expectorating
- Cough that worsens in cold weather or on lying flat
- Chronic wheeze with clear frothy phlegm
- Cold-type phlegm in a patient who is not thirsty
Health Categories
Modern Applications
Common adjustments
- Nausea or vomiting of clear fluid — Zhi Ban Xia 制半夏 is added, giving the classical Ling Gan Wu Wei Jiang Xin Ban Xia Tang
- Puffiness of the face with the cough — Xing Ren 杏仁 is added to open the Lung and move the fluid
- Marked wheeze with an exterior cold — Ma Huang 麻黄 is used per pattern, or the prescription is changed to Xiao Qing Long Tang
- Sputum begins to turn yellow and sticky — the warming herbs are stopped — the pattern has changed and a phlegm-heat formula is required
Contraindications
Not for a dry cough from Lung yin deficiency, and not for phlegm-heat with thick yellow sputum, a red tongue or thirst — the acrid warm herbs will aggravate both. Use cautiously where there is coughing of blood or a history of it, since Gan Jiang and Xi Xin are warming and dispersing. Keep Xi Xin within the usual 1–3 g in decoction and use root and rhizome only. Not taken alongside Gan Sui-class water-expelling formulas because of the Gan Cao.
For licensed practitioners’ reference only — not a self-treatment guide.
Pregnancy
Use in pregnancy only on a practitioner's decision. Xi Xin is acrid, warm and strongly dispersing and is traditionally used with caution in pregnancy; Gan Jiang is hot. Neither is a classical abortifacient, but a cold-phlegm cough in pregnancy is usually treated with a milder warming prescription and the smallest workable dose.
Related Formulas
References
Source Jin Gui Yao Lue 《金匮要略》 · Eastern Han
「冲气即低，而反更咳、胸满者，用桂苓五味甘草汤去桂，加干姜、细辛，以治其咳满。」
- Classical source (public domain) — 《金匮要略》, Eastern Han, 张仲景.
2. 《方剂学》（全国中医药行业高等教育规划教材）— 祛痰剂·温化寒痰, pattern analysis cross-checked.
3. Scheid, Bensky, Ellis & Barolet. Chinese Herbal Medicine: Formulas & Strategies, 2nd ed. — composition & dosage cross-checked.
4. Chinese Pharmacopoeia monograph on 细辛 — root and rhizome only, 1–3 g in decoction.
Professional reference notice. Entries are scholarly references for licensed TCM practitioners and students — not medical advice, and not a recommendation to self-prescribe. Chinese herbal formulas should be used under the guidance of a qualified practitioner. Content is an original editorial compilation by Cura x Cura, cross-checked against the cited references.