Witnessed by: TCM · Ayurveda
Beeswax, of the Apidae (Insecta) family. The honeybee — a social insect whose workers secrete wax from abdominal glands and build it into the comb; native range: wherever honeybees are kept or hunted — worldwide; the eastern materia draw chiefly on Apis cerana, the western and Japanese on A. mellifera. Globally recognized as huang la (黃蠟), feng la (蜂蠟) in Chinese, madhūcchiṣṭa, siktha, sikthaka in Sanskrit, ōrō (黄蝋) in Japanese, beeswax, yellow wax in English, and Cera flava in Latin. The part used is the wax of the comb, rendered and cleaned. Pale yellow to warm brown, opaque and slightly waxy-lustrous, plastic in the warm hand and breaking with a granular fracture when cold; it smells faintly and unmistakably of honey, and is practically tasteless. It melts at a low heat and will not dissolve in water.
In this cross-tradition database, we analyze how this substance operates across world medicine systems — tracking its traditional tastes, temperatures, tissue affinities, post-digestive effects, and planetary correspondences across Ayurveda, Unani, and Western herbalism.
BEESWAX
IDENTITY
Name
- Common
- beeswax
- Family
- Apidae (Insecta)
Form
- Part used
- the wax of the comb, rendered and cleaned
PROPERTIES
Nature
Taste
how the plant declares itself on the tongue
- TCM
- sweet (甘)
- Ayurveda
- sweet (madhura)
Temperature
TCM: warm (微溫, slightly warm)
Ayurveda: cooling (sheeta)
convergence: The two witnesses part here: the Chinese materia reads the wax as faintly warming, the Ayurvedic as sheeta. Both accounts stand. They agree on the sweet taste and on the work — the wax closes and heals a wound.
Affinity
where in the body it travels
Organs / channels
- TCM
- Spleen · Stomach · Large Intestine
PRACTICE
Virtue
Actions
- TCM
- astringes and binds, closes sores and generates flesh, relieves pain, and eases the intestines
- Ayurveda
- vrana ropana (heals wounds), sandhaniya (unites and knits), balya (strengthens), tvachya (benefits the skin), and grahi (binds the stool)
Cautions
- Contraindications
- not for sores of the damp-heat kind that are still discharging and need to drain — the wax closes what should stay open; and its heaviness sits badly on a weak digestion
- Toxicity
- non-toxic and inert; it is not absorbed. Adulteration with paraffin and stearin is the real hazard, and propolis residues can sensitise the skin
This is the card. Sign in for the full four-tradition entry — the aligned TCM · Ayurveda · Western · Unani reading, actions, dosing and cautions.