Fu Ling Pi茯苓皮
Poriae Cutis · Poria Peel · Hoelen Skin
Overview
- · — of Fu Ling.*
The dark outer rind pared from the Poria sclerotium when the white body is cut into blocks. Sweet, bland and neutral, it drains water without warming or cooling and without tonifying — everything Fu Ling does for the Spleen and the spirit stays behind in the white flesh, and what the peel keeps is the plain draining action.
The part it takes is the surface. Where Fu Ling drains from the interior, the peel is chosen for oedema that sits in the skin — puffy face, swollen eyelids, a shiny fullness in the hands and shins that pits under a thumb. That is the logic of Wu Pi San Wu Pi Yin/Wu Pi San, the classic five-peel prescription for skin oedema, in which every ingredient is the outer covering of its plant: mulberry root bark, tangerine peel, ginger skin, areca husk and this one.
Nature & Flavor
Sweet, bland · NeutralChannels
Lung · Spleen · KidneyTypical Dosage
15–30 gActions
3 core actions
- Drains water, reduces skin oedemaGeneralised puffiness and skin oedema — a swollen face and eyelids on waking, tight shiny skin over the hands and shins, scanty urine, a heavy body. Wu Pi San Wu Pi Yin/Wu Pi San is built on it.
- It is the peel, not the fungusThe old principle — use the covering to move the covering — is why the peel and not the body is chosen for surface water. It does not tonify the Spleen and does not settle the spirit; Fu Ling proper does that. Where a patient needs both draining and support, the two are used together, not interchangeably.
- The Poria familydrains damp and strengthens the Spleen; Chi Fu Ling drains damp-heat downward through the urine; Fu Shen, the part grown around the pine root, calms the spirit; Fu Ling Pi drains surface water. Same fungus, four different jobs.
In Formulas
Formulas containing Fu Ling Pi
Indications & Clinical Uses
- Skin oedema with a puffy face and swollen eyelids
- Generalised body swelling with scanty urine and a heavy, waterlogged feeling
- Swollen hands and lower legs that pit under pressure
- Damp accumulation where draining is wanted without any tonifying effect
Western Medical Keywords
Searchable condition terms
Contraindications
Cautions
A gentle herb with few restrictions, but three things are worth saying.
- New or unexplained swelling needs a diagnosis first. Oedema can be a sign of heart, kidney or liver disease, of a blood clot when one leg swells alone, or of a drug reaction. Draining herbs treat the sign; they do not answer the question of what caused it. Sudden swelling with breathlessness is an emergency.
- Not for yin deficiency with dryness, and use with care in anyone already depleted of fluids — it moves water out.
- It does not tonify. Using the peel where the patient actually needs Fu Ling proper, or a Spleen tonic, drains without supporting and leaves the person weaker. Match the part to the intention.
Contraindicated in pregnancy: No specific prohibition, and mild swelling of the legs in later pregnancy is a common reason it is considered. But swelling in pregnancy can also signal pre-eclampsia, particularly with headache, visual disturbance, upper abdominal pain or a rapid rise in blood pressure — that needs urgent obstetric assessment, not a diuretic herb. Use only with the treating practitioner's involvement.
For licensed practitioners’ reference only
References
- Shen Nong Ben Cao Jing《神农本草经》(classical source, public domain) — the parent drug 茯苓; the peel is treated as a separate item in the later 本草 literature.
2. Wu Pi San 五皮散 is a classical formula for skin oedema recorded in the Song formularies (public domain).
3. Bensky, Clavey & Stöger. Chinese Herbal Medicine: Materia Medica, 3rd ed.
4. 《中华人民共和国药典》— 15–30 g.
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.