Fu Ling
茯苓
Tu Fu Ling
Fu Ling VS Tu Fu Ling
Fu Ling, commonly known as Yun Ling, Song Ling, and Fu Ling, is widely recognized for its extensive benefits throughout the four seasons, and was praised by ancient scholars as a “divine medicine for all seasons.”
In traditional Chinese medicine, there is also a herb called Tu Fu Ling. What is its relationship with Fu Ling? Do they have the same effects?
Fu Ling
Fu Ling
According to the Compendium of Materia Medica, Fu Ling is described as “the spirit energy of pine, condensed and formed, hence called Fu Ling“. Fu Ling is the dried sclerotium of the fungus Poria cocos (Schw.) Wolf, belonging to the family Polyporaceae.
Fresh Fu Ling
The processed and dried product is referred to as Fu Ling Ge, or the fresh product cut into Fu Ling Pian or Fu Ling Ding before drying.
Fu Ling Ge
Fu Ling Pian
Fu Ling Ding
Fu Ling has a thin and rough outer skin, brown to dark brown in color, with distinct wrinkled textures. It is heavy, firm, and has a granular cross-section, some with fissures; the outer layer is light brown, while the inside is white, with some being light red, and some containing pine roots. It has a faint aroma and a bland taste, sticky when chewed.
Its properties are sweet, bland, and neutral, entering the heart, lung, spleen, and kidney meridians.
It has the functions of promoting urination and leaching out dampness, strengthening the spleen and calming the heart, and can be used for edema, reduced urination, phlegm-dampness causing palpitations, spleen deficiency with poor appetite, loose stools, anxiety, and insomnia.
Associated Herbs
1
Fu Ling Pi
As the name suggests, Fu Ling Pi is the dried outer skin of Fu Ling. It specializes in promoting urination and reducing swelling, commonly used for edema and difficulty in urination.
2
Fu Shen
Because Fu Ling often parasitizes on the roots of pine trees, sometimes the sclerotium may contain pine roots, and when used in medicine, it is called “Fu Shen”. Its effects are similar to Fu Ling, as it can leach out dampness, strengthen the spleen, and calm the heart, used for phlegm-dampness, edema, difficulty in urination, diarrhea, palpitations, and dizziness.
According to the Compendium of Materia Medica, “not containing roots, separated from its main body, has the meaning of being scattered” refers to Fu Ling; while “the essence is not abundant, only attached to the main root, not separated from it” refers to Fu Shen.
Fu Ling vs Tu Fu Ling
Tu Fu Ling
Tu Fu Ling
Although they differ by just one character, Fu Ling and Tu Fu Ling are completely different herbs.
Tu Fu Ling is the dried rhizome of the plant Smilax glabra Roxb. from the family Liliaceae.
Fresh Tu Fu Ling
Tu Fu Ling is slightly cylindrical, somewhat flattened or irregularly block-shaped, with nodular protrusions, having short branches, measuring 5-22 cm in length and 2-5 cm in diameter. The surface is yellow-brown or gray-brown, uneven, with hard root remnants, and the branch tips have circular bud scars. Some outer skins show irregular cracks, with residual scales. It is hard in texture. Slices are elongated or irregular, 1-5 mm thick, with uneven edges; the cross-section is whitish to light reddish-brown, powdery, with visible dotted vascular bundles and numerous small bright spots; it is slightly tough, and when broken, dust flies, and it feels slippery when moistened with water. It has a faint aroma and a slightly sweet, astringent taste.
Medicinal Properties of Tu Fu Ling
Tu Fu Ling has sweet, bland, and neutral properties, entering the liver and stomach meridians, and can detoxify, eliminate dampness, and unblock joints, used for syphilis and mercury poisoning causing limb spasms, joint pain; damp-heat causing turbid urination, leukorrhea, abscesses, scrofula, and scabies.
Fu Ling vs Tu Fu Ling
Previous Highlights: A Character Apart, Worlds Apart — Bai Fu Pian VS Bai Fu Zi
Reviewed by: Zhao Fu Lan
Author: Xu Mao Mei
Editor: Yin Wen Xian
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