Witnessed by: Western · Unani
Peppermint (Mentha x piperita), of the Lamiaceae (Labiatae) family. Erect perennial with purplish square stems and dark green, purple-tinged, stalked leaves, spreading by runners, the flowers in a blunt terminal spike; native range: a garden hybrid, first noted in England about 1696 and grown for its oil across Europe, North America and Asia. Globally recognized as brandy mint, curled mint, lamb mint in English, na'na filfili in Arabic, and pudina, filfili pudina in Urdu. The part used is leaves and flowering tops (aerial parts); the essential oil. The most penetrating of the mints — a sharp, peppery, intensely menthol scent, cool on the tongue at first touch and then warming; far more piercing than the sweet spearmint.
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.
PEPPERMINT
IDENTITY
Name
- Common
- Peppermint
- Scientific name
- Mentha × piperita L.
- Family
- Lamiaceae (Labiatae)
Form
- Part used
- leaves and flowering tops (aerial parts); the essential oil
PROPERTIES
Nature
Taste
how the plant declares itself on the tongue
- Western
- pungent · aromatic, a sharp menthol coolness on the tongue
- Unani
- pungent · aromatic
Temperature
- Western
- cool (a menthol coolness on the surface that turns warming and stimulating within — cooling then warming)
- Unani
- hot (har-yabis, hot & dry in the 2nd–3rd degree)
Affinity
where in the body it travels
Organs / channels
- Western
- stomach · digestion · nerves · bowels
- Unani
- stomach · heart · brain · intestines
PRACTICE
Virtue
Actions
- Western
- carminative, antispasmodic, diaphoretic, analgesic (menthol), cholagogue, antiemetic, nervine, and topically a mild anaesthetic
- Unani
- muqawwi-e-meda (stomach tonic), kaasir-e-riyah (carminative), mufarreh-e-qalb (cardiac exhilarant), musakkin-e-alam (analgesic), habis-e-qai (checks vomiting), mufatteh-e-sudad (deobstruent)
Cautions
Contraindications: the oil not to be applied to the face of infants or small children (risk of laryngospasm); use cautiously in reflux, hiatus hernia and gallstones, where it may relax the lower oesophageal sphincter or precipitate colic
Toxicity: the leaf and tea are very safe; concentrated menthol oil may irritate and, in overdose, cause nausea; applied near the nostrils of babies it can trigger reflex apnoea
Interactions
- Western
- CYP450-metabolised drugs: peppermint oil inhibits hepatic CYP3A4 and CYP1A2, potentially raising levels of co-administered drugs
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