Witnessed by: Ayurveda · Unani
Cucumber (Cucumis sativus), of the Cucurbitaceae family. Trailing annual vine with rough tendrils and yellow flowers bearing elongated fruits; native range: the foothills of the Himalaya in northern India, cultivated the world over since antiquity. Globally recognized as trapusha · ervaru in Sanskrit, khira / kakri in Hindi, khiyar in Arabic, and garden cucumber in English. The part used is fruit and seed. A crisp, watery, pale-green fruit, sweetish and faintly grassy, cool and refreshing; the flat white seeds bland and oily.
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.
CUCUMBER
IDENTITY
Name
- Common
- Cucumber
- Scientific name
- Cucumis sativus L.
- Family
- Cucurbitaceae
Form
- Part used
- fruit and seed
PROPERTIES
Nature
Taste
how the plant declares itself on the tongue
- Ayurveda
- sweet (madhura) · astringent (kashaya)
- Unani
- bland · sweet
Temperature
- Ayurveda
- cooling (sheeta)
- Unani
- cold & moist (2nd degree)
Affinity
where in the body it travels
Organs / channels
- Unani
- stomach · kidneys · bladder
PRACTICE
Virtue
Actions
- Ayurveda
- sheetala (refrigerant), trishnaghna (thirst-quenching), mutrala (diuretic), pittashamana
- Unani
- mubarrid (refrigerant), mudir-e-baul (diuretic), murattib (moistening), musakkin (soothing)
Cautions
- Contraindications
- weak cold digestion, and cold coughs or catarrh, where its coldness may aggravate
- Toxicity
- none; occasionally hard to digest and flatulent in the cold-stomached
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