Witnessed by: Ayurveda · Western · Unani
Jasmine (Jasminum officinale), of the Oleaceae family. Climbing, twining deciduous shrub with pinnate leaves and white star-shaped flowers; native range: the Caucasus and Persia through the Himalayan foothills to western China; long cultivated across India, Persia and the Mediterranean. Globally recognized as jati / jatika in Sanskrit, chameli / juhi in Hindi, Yasmin (ياسمين) in Arabic, and common jasmine, poet's jasmine, true jasmine in English. The part used is flower (and the oil / absolute pressed or enfleuraged from it). Slender white salver-form flowers that open at dusk to release a heavy, sweet, animalic-floral perfume; the leaf is bitter-astringent.
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.
JASMINE
IDENTITY
Name
- Common
- Jasmine
- Scientific name
- Jasminum officinale L.
- Family
- Oleaceae
Form
- Part used
- flower (and the oil / absolute pressed or enfleuraged from it)
PROPERTIES
Nature
Taste
how the plant declares itself on the tongue
- Ayurveda
- bitter · astringent (tikta-kashaya)
- Western
- aromatic
- Unani
- aromatic · bitter
Temperature
- Ayurveda
- cooling (sheeta)
- Western
- warm (Culpeper — warm and moist, of Jupiter)
- Unani
- hot & dry (2nd degree)
Affinity
where in the body it travels
Organs / channels
- Western
- nerves · nervous system · skin · uterus
- Unani
- brain · nerves
PRACTICE
Virtue
Actions
- Ayurveda
- vrana-shodhana-ropana (cleanses and heals wounds), mukhapaka-hara (heals mouth ulcers), pitta-kapha-hara, chakshushya (good for the eyes), varnya (improves the complexion)
- Western
- nervine, relaxant, antidepressant, aphrodisiac, mildly antispasmodic; the oil aromatic and emollient
- Unani
- muqawwi-e-asab (nerve tonic), muqawwi-e-bah (aphrodisiac), mufarreh (exhilarant), musakkin (calmative for cold nervous states), applied for headache of cold cause
Cautions
Contraindications: the concentrated oil is for external and aromatic use, not to be swallowed; caution in pregnancy, the flower being reputed to promote labour and to suppress the milk when laid on the breasts
Toxicity: the flower and its dilute preparations are benign; the neat essential oil may sensitize the skin in susceptible people
Interactions
- Western
- sedatives / CNS depressants: the relaxing, sedative aroma may add to central depressant effects
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