Witnessed by: TCM · Ayurveda · Unani
Babchi (Cullen corylifolium), of the Fabaceae family. An erect annual herb with rounded toothed leaves and dense spikes of bluish-purple flowers; native range: the plains of India and Southeast Asia, and warm parts of China. Globally recognized as bakuchi · avalguja · somaraji · kushtaghni in Sanskrit, babchi · bavachi in Hindi, bu gu zhi (補骨脂) in Chinese, babchi in Arabic, and psoralea, scurfy pea, malay tea in English. The part used is the seed (fruit). Tiny, flat, dark kidney-shaped seeds with a strong aromatic, bitter-pungent scent and a warm, oily, acrid taste.
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.
BABCHI
IDENTITY
Name
- Common
- babchi
- Scientific name
- Cullen corylifolium (L.) Medik.
- Family
- Fabaceae
Form
- Part used
- the seed (fruit)
PROPERTIES
Nature
Taste
how the plant declares itself on the tongue
- TCM
- pungent · bitter
- Ayurveda
- bitter (tikta) · pungent (katu)
- Unani
- bitter · pungent · aromatic
Temperature
TCM: warm (strongly — 大温)
Ayurveda: heating (ushna)
Unani: hot (& dry, 2nd–3rd degree)
convergence: the {witness_count} witnesses agree on a strongly warming, drying seed
Affinity
where in the body it travels
Organs / channels
- TCM
- Kidney · Spleen
- Unani
- kidneys · uterus · stomach
PRACTICE
Virtue
Actions
- TCM
- tonifies the Kidney and Spleen yang, secures the essence and astringes the urine, warms the Spleen to stop diarrhoea, and (applied) promotes repigmentation and hair growth
- Ayurveda
- kushtaghna (heals skin disease), krimighna (antiparasitic), a rasayana and twachya (repigmenting) for the skin, dipana and vrishya
- Unani
- jali (a detergent cleanser of the skin), mujaddid (regenerative of skin colour), muhallil, qatil-ud-dud (vermicide) and muqawwi-e-bah (aphrodisiac)
Cautions
- Contraindications
- yin deficiency with heat, constipation with dark scanty urine, high pitta and bleeding, and pregnancy; internal use is limited by its toxicity
- Toxicity
- the psoralens are strongly photosensitising — internal overuse with sun exposure causes phototoxic burns, blistering and hepatic strain; large doses irritate the gut
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