Witnessed by: TCM · Ayurveda · Western · Unani
Nutmeg (Myristica fragrans), of the Myristicaceae family. Evergreen tropical tree bearing a fleshy apricot-like fruit; native range: the Banda Islands of the Moluccas (Spice Islands), Indonesia; the fought-over spice of the age of navigation. Globally recognized as jatiphala (seed); jatipatri (mace) in Sanskrit, jaiphal (seed); javitri (mace) in Hindi, rou dou kou (肉豆蔻) in Chinese, jauz al-tib (جوز الطيب) in Arabic, and nutmeg (seed) · mace (aril) in English. The part used is the seed kernel (nutmeg); its aril (mace). A hard, oily, brown-veined kernel, warmly and sweetly aromatic, richly fragrant and faintly bitter when grated; mace is finer, brighter, more penetrating.
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.
NUTMEG
IDENTITY
Name
- Common
- Nutmeg
- Scientific name
- Myristica fragrans Houtt.
- Family
- Myristicaceae
Form
- Part used
- the seed kernel (nutmeg); its aril (mace)
PROPERTIES
Nature
Taste
how the plant declares itself on the tongue
- TCM
- pungent
- Ayurveda
- pungent (katu) · bitter (tikta) · astringent (kashaya)
- Western
- pungent · aromatic
- Unani
- pungent · aromatic · bitter (slightly)
Temperature
- TCM
- warm
- Ayurveda
- heating (ushna)
- Western
- hot
- Unani
- hot & dry (2nd–3rd degree)
Affinity
where in the body it travels
Organs / channels
- TCM
- Spleen · Stomach · Large Intestine
- Western
- stomach · intestines · nerves
- Unani
- stomach · brain · liver · nerves
PRACTICE
Virtue
Actions
- TCM
- warms the middle and moves qi, binds the intestines to stop chronic diarrhoea (used roasted to draw off the oil)
- Ayurveda
- grahi (binds the stool), dipana-pachana (digestive), vata-kapha-hara, nidrajanana (promotes sleep), vrishya (aphrodisiac), medhya (for the mind)
- Western
- carminative, aromatic stimulant, antispasmodic, and (large-dose) narcotic
- Unani
- muqawwi-e-meda (stomach tonic), muqawwi-e-dimagh (brain tonic), habis (astringent, checks flux), muqawwi-e-bah (aphrodisiac)
Cautions
Contraindications: pregnancy in medicinal dose; high pitta / heat states; acute damp-heat dysentery (TCM)
Toxicity: the seed's myristicin and elemicin make it a genuine intoxicant and poison in excess: as little as one to two whole nutmegs can cause nausea, flushing, dry mouth, palpitations, agitation, hallucinations and a wretched delirium lasting a day or more; deaths are recorded.
Interactions
- Western
- MAO inhibitors: myristicin has weak MAO-inhibiting action; additive risk of pressor and serotonergic reactions · sedatives / CNS depressants: additive central depression at large doses, unpredictable with the intoxicant phase
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