The Herb Cabinet 本草

防风 fáng fēng

Saposhnikovia divaricata · siler root

Slightly warm Pungent · Sweet BladderLiverSpleen

“The name is the job description — "guard against wind." The gentlest of the wind-expellers, trusted even where stronger dispersers would do harm.” — Lao Xinglin

What the tradition says

"Wind" is the tradition's name for what arrives suddenly from outside — chills, aches, itching, spasm — and fang feng is its appointed guard. The old texts prize it as the gentlest of the wind-expelling roots: moist rather than harsh, safe where drier dispersers would wound, useful for wind-cold aches, wind-damp joint pain, and itching rashes^[1]. Its most famous post is in Yu Ping Feng San, patrolling outside the screen huang qi builds — the classic image of tonics and dispersers working the same gate.

What the research says

Chromones and coumarins from the root show anti-inflammatory and analgesic signals in laboratory models; there is no independent human trial base. Its reputation rests on classical formularies, where it appears wherever "wind" needed a courteous escort out.

Where to be careful

The tradition's own fences only: as a disperser it is withheld where sweating is already excessive from deficiency, and in spasm from blood deficiency rather than wind^[1]. Among the milder drawers otherwise.

In the pharmacy

Long, soft-fibered tan roots of Saposhnikovia divaricata with a "chrysanthemum heart" cross-section, sliced into flexible rounds. The name alone — guard against wind — has sold it for two thousand years^[1].

Reviewed 2026-08-26