Witnessed by: TCM · Ayurveda · Western · Unani
Black pepper (Piper nigrum), of the Piperaceae family. A perennial woody climbing vine; native range: The Malabar coast of south-western India; long cultivated across the humid tropics. Globally recognized as maricha · krishna in Sanskrit, kali mirch in Hindi, hu jiao (胡椒) in Chinese, filfil aswad (فلفل أسود) · filfil siyah in Arabic, and black pepper · peppercorn in English. The part used is the dried unripe fruit (black peppercorn); white pepper is the same seed decorticated. Small round wrinkled black corns, aromatic and sharply hot with a clean biting pungency and a warm woody scent; freshly cracked, the heat is brightest.
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.
BLACK PEPPER
IDENTITY
Name
- Common
- Black pepper
- Scientific name
- Piper nigrum L.
- Family
- Piperaceae
Form
- Part used
- the dried unripe fruit (black peppercorn); white pepper is the same seed decorticated
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 (ushna)
Western: hot
Unani: hot & dry (3rd degree)
convergence: all {witness_count} witnesses hold it a hot, drying spice
Affinity
where in the body it travels
Organs / channels
- TCM
- Stomach · Large Intestine
- Western
- digestion · circulation · lungs
- Unani
- stomach · liver · nerves
PRACTICE
Virtue
Actions
- TCM
- warms the middle, disperses cold, descends rebellious qi and stops vomiting and diarrhoea
- Ayurveda
- dipana-pachana (kindles digestion and burns ama), kapha-vata-hara, chhedana (scraping), and yogavahi (bioavailability enhancer)
- Western
- stimulant, carminative, febrifuge, rubefacient, digestive tonic
- Unani
- muharrik (stimulant), hazim (digestive), kaasir-e-riyah (carminative), munzij-e-balgham (ripener of phlegm) and mufatteh
Cautions
Contraindications: high pitta, acidity, ulcer, haemorrhoids and inflammatory heat; large doses in pregnancy
Toxicity: safe as a spice; medicinal excess irritates the gut, aggravates heat and may provoke bleeding
Interactions
- Western
- CYP450-metabolised drugs: piperine inhibits CYP3A4 and P-glycoprotein, raising blood levels of many co-administered drugs · antiepileptics: piperine alters phenytoin and carbamazepine pharmacokinetics via metabolic inhibition
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