Witnessed by: Ayurveda · Western · Unani
Cinnamon (Cinnamomum verum), of the Lauraceae family. Evergreen tree coppiced low so it throws up straight aromatic shoots; native range: Sri Lanka and the Malabar coast of southern India; cultivated across the tropics. Globally recognized as twak · daruchini · varanga in Sanskrit, dalchini in Hindi, darchini · qirfa (قرفة) in Arabic, and true cinnamon, Ceylon cinnamon in English. The part used is inner bark; also the leaf and bark oils. Fine, smooth, tan quills that curl within one another, brittle and papery, with a delicate sweet-warm fragrance and a gentle pungency far softer than cassia.
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.
CINNAMON
IDENTITY
Name
- Common
- cinnamon
- Scientific name
- Cinnamomum verum J.Presl
- Family
- Lauraceae
Form
- Part used
- inner bark; also the leaf and bark oils
PROPERTIES
Nature
Taste
how the plant declares itself on the tongue
- Ayurveda
- pungent (katu) · sweet (madhura) · bitter (tikta)
- Western
- aromatic · sweet · pungent
- Unani
- aromatic · sweet · pungent
Temperature
Ayurveda: heating (ushna)
Western: warm
Unani: hot (& dry, 2nd–3rd degree)
convergence: all {witness_count} witnesses converge on a gentle, sweet warmth
Affinity
where in the body it travels
Organs / channels
- Western
- circulation · digestion · stomach · lungs · uterus
- Unani
- stomach · liver · heart · uterus · brain
PRACTICE
Virtue
Actions
- Ayurveda
- dipana-pachana (kindles and digests), kapha-vata-hara, hridya (cardiac), vrishya, mukhavishodhana (cleanses the mouth); a warming carminative
- Western
- carminative, aromatic stomachic, astringent and haemostatic, antispasmodic, antiseptic and mild stimulant
- Unani
- muqawwi-e-meda (stomachic), kaasir-e-riyah (carminative), muqawwi-e-qalb wa dimagh (tonic to heart and brain), mufatteh-e-sudad (deobstruent), qabid (astringent) and mudirr-e-haiz (emmenagogue)
Cautions
Contraindications: high pitta and heat states, bleeding disorders, and large doses in pregnancy (the bark is an emmenagogue)
Toxicity: the essential oil, rich in cinnamaldehyde, is a mucous-membrane and skin irritant when undiluted; true cinnamon is low in coumarin and otherwise very safe as a spice
Interactions
- Western
- antidiabetic agents: may add to blood-glucose lowering · anticoagulants: coumarin content (low in true cinnamon) may add slightly to bleeding risk
This is the card. Sign in for the full four-tradition entry — the aligned TCM · Ayurveda · Western · Unani reading, actions, dosing and cautions.