Witnessed by: TCM · Ayurveda · Western · Unani
Long pepper (Piper longum), of the Piperaceae family. A slender aromatic climber with a woody rootstock; native range: Foothills of the Indian subcontinent and Indo-Malaya, chiefly the north-eastern and Western Ghats. Globally recognized as pippali · magadhi in Sanskrit, pipal / pippali in Hindi, bi bo (荜茇) in Chinese, darfilfil (دارفلفل) · filfil daraz in Arabic, and long pepper · Indian long pepper · pippali in English. The part used is the unripe, dried fruiting spike (catkin); root (pippali-mula). Small greyish cylindrical spikes of minute embedded fruits, hard and pitted; hotter, sweeter and more lingering than black pepper, with a musky, almost date-like warmth.
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.
LONG PEPPER
IDENTITY
Name
- Common
- Long pepper
- Scientific name
- Piper longum L.
- Family
- Piperaceae
Form
- Part used
- the unripe, dried fruiting spike (catkin); root (pippali-mula)
PROPERTIES
Nature
Taste
how the plant declares itself on the tongue
- TCM
- pungent
- Ayurveda
- pungent (katu)
- Western
- pungent · aromatic
- Unani
- pungent · aromatic
Temperature
TCM: hot
Ayurveda: heating (anushna-shita when dried; ushna in action)
Western: hot
Unani: hot & dry (3rd degree)
convergence: all {witness_count} witnesses hold it a hot, penetrating spice
Affinity
where in the body it travels
Organs / channels
- TCM
- Stomach · Large Intestine
- Western
- digestion · lungs · circulation
- Unani
- stomach · liver · lungs · nerves
PRACTICE
Virtue
Actions
- TCM
- warms the middle burner, disperses cold, descends rebellious qi and stops pain
- Ayurveda
- dipana-pachana, kapha-vata-hara, shwasahara (antiasthmatic), rasayana, yogavahi (bioavailability enhancer) and vrishya
- Western
- stimulant, carminative, expectorant, warming digestive tonic
- Unani
- muharrik (stimulant), hazim (digestive), munzij-e-balgham (ripener of phlegm), mufatteh (deobstruent) and muqawwi-e-bah
Cautions
Contraindications: high pitta, acidity, ulcer and inflammatory heat; large doses in pregnancy
Toxicity: safe as a spice; medicinal excess irritates the stomach and aggravates heat and bleeding
Interactions
- Western
- CYP450-metabolised drugs: piperine inhibits CYP3A4 and P-glycoprotein, raising blood levels of many co-taken drugs (the yogavahi effect) · antiepileptics: piperine can alter phenytoin/carbamazepine levels via metabolic inhibition
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