Witnessed by: TCM · Ayurveda · Western · Unani
Flax (Linum usitatissimum), of the Linaceae family. Slender annual with narrow leaves and delicate sky-blue five-petalled flowers; native range: The Near East and Mediterranean; among the most anciently cultivated of plants — usitatissimum, 'the most useful'. Globally recognized as atasi / uma in Sanskrit, alsi in Hindi, ya ma zi (亚麻子, seed) in Chinese, bazr-ul-katan (كتان, the seed) in Arabic, and linseed, common flax in English. The part used is the ripe seed (and its expressed oil). Flat, glossy, pointed brown seeds, blandly nutty and mucilaginous — soaked, they swell in a clear slippery jelly; the pressed oil is golden and drying.
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.
FLAX
IDENTITY
Name
- Common
- flax
- Scientific name
- Linum usitatissimum L.
- Family
- Linaceae
Form
- Part used
- the ripe seed (and its expressed oil)
PROPERTIES
Nature
Taste
how the plant declares itself on the tongue
- TCM
- sweet (the seed)
- Ayurveda
- dominant: sweet (madhura) · astringent (kashaya)
- Western
- sweet · oily · mucilaginous
- Unani
- sweet · bland
Temperature
TCM: neutral (the seed)
Ayurveda: heating (ushna)
Western: warm
Unani: hot & dry (1st degree)
convergence: the demulcent seed reads mild and near-neutral to the Chinese, while Ayurveda and the Greco-Arabic schools reckon it warming — a soft heat within an oily, soothing seed
Affinity
where in the body it travels
Organs / channels
- TCM
- Large Intestine · Lung
- Western
- bowels · intestines · lungs · skin
- Unani
- intestines · lungs · kidneys
PRACTICE
Virtue
Actions
- TCM
- moistens dryness and the Intestines to free the stool, dispels wind and settles itching of the dry skin
- Ayurveda
- vata-hara, snehana (unctuous, lubricating), vedana-sthapana (pain-easing in poultice), shothahara (anti-inflammatory), balya
- Western
- demulcent, emollient, laxative (bulk), pectoral, and — as the warm poultice — resolvent and anodyne
- Unani
- mulaiyin (laxative), munzij and muhallil (ripener and resolvent of swellings), munaffis (expectorant), a chief poultice drug
Cautions
Contraindications: bowel obstruction, stricture or ileus (the swelling seed may impact); take always with abundant water; the seed contains cyanogenic glycosides, so avoid large quantities of raw immature seed and use in pregnancy with care
Toxicity: wholesome in ordinary food and medicinal amounts; large intakes of raw seed can, through their cyanogenic glycosides, cause nausea and, in great excess, cyanide-type poisoning — cooking and moderate dose disarm this
Interactions
- Western
- antidiabetic agents: the soluble mucilage blunts and slows glucose absorption, adding to glucose lowering · anticoagulants: the seed oil's alpha-linolenic acid may mildly reduce platelet aggregation
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