Polyporus
豬苓 · zhū líng
Moves trapped fluid out and eases swelling
Properties
NeutralNeutral botanicalSweet, Bland
Concerns
What it does
When your body is holding onto water, polyporus is the herb that moves it back out. In TCM it works through the kidney and bladder to drain fluid that has pooled somewhere it should be circulating. Practitioners use it for puffiness, difficult urination, and watery diarrhea. Unlike poria, its usual partner, it only drains and does nothing to build you back up.
Safety
- Do not use when there are no signs of fluid retention. Bensky rules it out in the absence of dampness.
- It drains without building anything back, so it isn't a long-term daily herb on its own.
- AHPA Safety Class 1, Interaction Class A, with no known adverse events or contraindications.
- No modern pregnancy or lactation safety data exists. Don't self-prescribe it while pregnant.
- Generally well tolerated at 6–12g. Expect to urinate more than usual while taking it.
How to take it
Decoct 6–12g in 4 cups water for about 30 minutes. Almost always combined with poria and alisma rather than taken alone.
Best used inside a formula such as Five-Ingredient Powder with Poria rather than on its own
Follow the label on a finished formula containing zhu ling, such as Wu Ling teapills.
Look for it in formulas aimed at water retention with difficult urination
Where it comes from
Polyporus is a fungus rather than a plant. It grows as a hard, dark sclerotium on the roots of birch, maple, and oak, and its Chinese name zhu ling means pig's fungus, after lumps that early writers thought resembled pig droppings. Li Shi-Zhen recorded in the sixteenth century that it works best used unprepared. Classical texts call it the fastest-acting of the draining herbs, which is why it has been poria's standard partner in water-moving formulas for centuries.