Skip to content
Cura x Cura

Xi Yang Shen西洋参

Panacis Quinquefolii Radix · American Ginseng

Herbs that Tonify the Qi 补气药《增订本草备要》

Overview

The root of American ginseng — a North American relative of Ren Shen that entered Chinese practice through the eighteenth-century trade and was described in Wu Yi-luo's 1757 materia medica. Sweet, slightly bitter and cool, it is the herb for the person who needs tonifying but cannot take warmth: it supplements qi and nourishes yin at the same time while clearing heat and generating fluids. That combination fits the aftermath of a febrile illness, the exhaustion of a long hot summer, and chronic depletion with a dry mouth, a red tongue and a low-grade restless heat. Where Ren Shen would add fuel, this cools while it fills.

Nature & Flavor

Sweet, slightly bitter · Cool

Channels

Lung · Heart · Kidney · Spleen

Typical Dosage

3–6 g
西洋参Photography for this entry is on its way.

Actions

3 core actions

  • Supplements qi, nourishes yinQi-and-yin depletion after a febrile illness or long overwork: fatigue, shortness of breath, dry mouth and a red tongue with little coating.
  • Clears heat, generates fluidsThirst, irritability and scanty dark urine from heat consuming fluids, including exhaustion in hot weather.
  • Moistens the Lung, stops coughChronic dry cough with scanty or blood-streaked sputum where Lung yin is depleted.

In Formulas

Formulas containing Xi Yang Shen

Indications & Clinical Uses

  • Fatigue and shortness of breath with heat signs
    - Dry mouth and thirst after febrile illness; summer exhaustion
    - Chronic dry cough with scant or blood-flecked sputum
    - Restlessness and poor sleep from qi and yin depletion

Western Medical Keywords

Searchable condition terms

Chronic fatigueConvalescenceDry coughHeat exhaustionType 2 diabetes

Contraindications

Cautions

Cool and enriching: it is the wrong herb for a cold, damp middle burner with loose stools, poor appetite and a thick white coating, and for yang deficiency with cold limbs — there it dampens digestion further. Like all tonics it is withheld during an acute infection or fever, where supplementing traps the pathogen. The classical incompatibility that applies to ginseng applies here too: it is not combined with Li Lu 藜芦. One well-documented interaction is worth stating plainly — American ginseng can reduce the anticoagulant effect of warfarin, so anyone on warfarin or another anticoagulant should tell both prescriber and practitioner before taking it. It is also not interchangeable with Ren Shen 人参, which is warm and would be the wrong choice in exactly the heat patterns this herb suits.

Contraindicated in pregnancy: No specific restriction — practitioner judgment applies.

For licensed practitioners’ reference only

References

  1. Ben Cao Cong Xin《本草从新》(1757, classical source, public domain).
    2. Bensky, Clavey & Stöger. Chinese Herbal Medicine: Materia Medica, 3rd ed.
    3. 《中华人民共和国药典》.

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.