Witnessed by: TCM · Ayurveda · Western · Unani
Purslane (Portulaca oleracea), of the Portulacaceae family. A low sprawling succulent annual with reddish stems; native range: Old World in origin, probably the Indian subcontinent and the Near East; now a cosmopolitan weed of warm ground worldwide. Globally recognized as lonika / ghol / upodika in Sanskrit, kulfa / lunia in Hindi, ma chi xian (马齿苋, 'horse-tooth herb') in Chinese, baqla al-hamqa (بقلة الحمقاء) · khurfa in Arabic, and purslane · common purslane · pigweed · pusley in English. The part used is the whole fresh herb (aerial parts); seed. Fleshy, smooth, paddle-shaped leaves and juicy red-tinged stems that snap wetly; the taste is cool, sappy, faintly sour and salty with a mucilaginous slip.
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.
PURSLANE
IDENTITY
Name
- Common
- Purslane
- Scientific name
- Portulaca oleracea L.
- Family
- Portulacaceae
Form
- Part used
- the whole fresh herb (aerial parts); seed
PROPERTIES
Nature
Taste
how the plant declares itself on the tongue
- TCM
- sour
- Ayurveda
- sour (amla) · salty (lavana)
- Western
- sour · salty · mucilaginous
- Unani
- sour · salty
Temperature
- TCM
- cold
- Ayurveda
- heating (ushna) by classical reckoning, though juicy and cooling to the touch
- Western
- cool
- Unani
- cold & moist (2nd–3rd degree)
Affinity
where in the body it travels
Organs / channels
- TCM
- Large Intestine · Liver
- Western
- bowels · kidneys · blood
- Unani
- stomach · liver · kidneys · bladder
PRACTICE
Virtue
Actions
- TCM
- clears heat and resolves toxicity, cools the blood and stops bleeding, and checks dysentery
- Ayurveda
- raktapittahara (cools heated blood), mutrala (diuretic), and a cooling, nourishing leafy green
- Western
- refrigerant, diuretic, demulcent, antiscorbutic; a cooling salad and poultice for hot inflammations
- Unani
- muballid (refrigerant), musakkin (soothing), mudir-e-baul (diuretic) and daf-e-safra (corrector of bile)
Cautions
Contraindications: cold weak digestion and loose stool from cold; pregnancy (the herb is noted to stimulate the uterus); a history of oxalate kidney stones, for it is high in oxalates
Toxicity: safe as a common food in ordinary amount; its high oxalate content warns against large medicinal doses in the stone-prone
Interactions
- Western
- diuretics: additive diuretic and potassium effect — the herb is rich in potassium
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