Witnessed by: Ayurveda · Western · Unani
Date palm (Phoenix dactylifera), of the Arecaceae (Palmae) family. Tall dioecious palm with a single columnar trunk and a crown of feathery fronds; native range: The hot arid lands of North Africa, Arabia and the Persian Gulf to Mesopotamia; cultivated round the desert oases since remote antiquity. Globally recognized as kharjura in Sanskrit, khajur in Hindi, tamr (تمر, the fruit); nakhl (نخل, the tree) in Arabic, and date, common date palm in English. The part used is the ripe fruit. Heavy hanging clusters of oblong fruit ripening amber to deep brown, the flesh soft, honey-sweet and clinging about a single hard grooved stone; sun-cured they grow chewy, dark and richly sugary.
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.
DATE PALM
IDENTITY
Name
- Common
- date palm
- Scientific name
- Phoenix dactylifera L.
- Family
- Arecaceae (Palmae)
Form
- Part used
- the ripe fruit
PROPERTIES
Nature
Taste
how the plant declares itself on the tongue
- Ayurveda
- dominant: sweet (madhura)
- Western
- sweet
- Unani
- sweet
Temperature
- Ayurveda
- cooling (sheeta — a sweet, heavy, cooling fruit)
- Western
- warm (a nourishing, restorative food)
- Unani
- hot & moist (2nd degree, the ripe fruit)
Affinity
where in the body it travels
Organs / channels
- Western
- digestion · lungs · blood
- Unani
- stomach · liver · lungs · kidneys
PRACTICE
Virtue
Actions
- Ayurveda
- brumhana (nourishing), balya (strengthening), vrishya (aphrodisiac), hridya (cardiac), a sheetala vata-pitta-hara rasayana; soothes raktapitta (bleeding)
- Western
- nutritive, demulcent, expectorant and gently laxative; a restorative food
- Unani
- muqawwi (general tonic), muqawwi-e-bah (aphrodisiac), mughalliz-e-mani (thickens the semen), munzij and demulcent to the chest, muqawwi-e-jigar (liver tonic)
Cautions
- Contraindications
- diabetes and high blood sugar, and kapha excess, obesity and sluggish digestion, where its heavy sweetness aggravates
- Toxicity
- a wholesome food; excess is merely cloying and laxative, loading kapha and the blood-sugar
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