<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<record type="formula" updated="2026-09-18T21:24:27.670139+00:00">
  <source>Bencao Index</source>
  <source-url>https://bencaoindex.com/</source-url>
  <canonical>https://bencaoindex.com/formulas/cang-er-zi-san/</canonical>
  <licence>Free to use and republish with visible attribution and a link back to the source page. The catalogue is a reference work and is knowingly incomplete; nothing in it is medical advice.</licence>
  <attribution-html>&lt;a href=&quot;https://bencaoindex.com/formulas/cang-er-zi-san/&quot;&gt;Bencao Index&lt;/a&gt;</attribution-html>
  <names>
    <name type="pinyin">cang er zi san</name>
    <name type="english">Xanthium Powder</name>
  </names>
  <category>Formulas that Release Exterior Disorders with Head and Neck Symptoms</category>
  <actions>
    <action>
      <summary>Disperses Wind and unblocks the nose</summary>
      <indication>Wind-Heat invading and causing a blocked nose or heavy nasal discharge</indication>
      <indication>Wind-Heat attacking the head with profuse nasal discharge</indication>
      <indication>Wind-Cold with Heat trapped inside in the muscles</indication>
      <indication>Bi yuan (sinus congestion): blocked nose with thick, turbid, often yellowish discharge and a reduced sense of smell</indication>
      <indication>Copious, purulent nasal discharge with a foul smell; dry nose</indication>
      <indication>Fever with intolerance of cold or mild aversion to wind; muscle aches; a heavy, stuffy feeling in the head</indication>
      <indication>Bloodshot eyes, bitter taste, dizziness and insomnia</indication>
      <indication>Tongue normal or with a thin white or slightly yellow coat; pulse floating, or floating and rapid</indication>
    </action>
    <action>
      <summary>Alleviates pain</summary>
      <indication>Frontal or temporal headache</indication>
      <indication>Dull, distending pain in the forehead or over the sinuses, worse on bending forward</indication>
    </action>
    <action>
      <summary>Modern uses</summary>
      <indication>Rhinorrhea</indication>
      <indication>Nasal suppuration</indication>
      <indication>Acute or chronic rhinitis</indication>
      <indication>Allergic rhinitis</indication>
      <indication>Nasal congestion</indication>
      <indication>Acute or chronic sinusitis</indication>
      <indication>Sinusitis with thick discharge</indication>
      <indication>Fever</indication>
      <indication>Headache</indication>
    </action>
  </actions>
  <constituents>
    <herb>cang er zi</herb>
    <herb>xin yi hua</herb>
    <herb>bai zhi</herb>
    <herb>bo he</herb>
  </constituents>
</record>
