Warm

温 or 溫 wēn, warming herbs are only slightly hot and so can be used for treating cold diseases with less contraindications than hot herbs. Warmth disperses cold and aids relaxation to facilitate proper functioning of qi and Blood. If combined with a sweet taste, warm herbs can nourish qi and Blood, as seen with ginseng (ren shen, Panax ginseng), astragalus (huang qi, Astragalus membranaceus) and jujube (da zao, Zizhyphus jujube).

If combined with a pungent taste, it expels cold and invigorates circulation, such as fresh ginger (sheng jiang, Zingiber officinale) and cloves (ding xiang, Syzygium aromaticum) do for stomach ache, or corydalis (yan hu suo, Corydalis yanhusuo) and turmeric (jiang huang, Curcuma longa) do for joint pains.