Witnessed by: TCM · Western · Unani
Peach (Prunus persica), of the Rosaceae family. Small deciduous rose-family tree, pink-flowered before leaf, bearing a downy freestone or clingstone drupe; native range: Native to China, cultivated there for millennia and carried west along the silk routes through Persia — whence 'persica' — to the Mediterranean. Globally recognized as tao ren (桃仁, kernel); tao (桃, fruit) in Chinese, khokh (خوخ); aaru (آڑو) in Arabic, and peach kernel, peach tree in English. The part used is the seed kernel (tao ren); and, in the West, the leaves, flowers and fruit. A flattened, pointed kernel in a hard, deeply pitted stone, wrapped in a thin brown skin; bitter and faintly almond-scented from its amygdalin. The fruit is sweet, juicy and downy; the leaves smell of bitter almonds when bruised.
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.
PEACH
IDENTITY
Name
- Common
- peach
- Scientific name
- Prunus persica (L.) Batsch
- Family
- Rosaceae
Form
- Part used
- the seed kernel (tao ren); and, in the West, the leaves, flowers and fruit
PROPERTIES
Nature
Taste
how the plant declares itself on the tongue
- TCM
- bitter · sweet (the kernel)
- Western
- bitter (kernel and leaf) · sweet (the fruit)
- Unani
- sweet · sour (the fruit)
Temperature
- TCM
- neutral (the kernel)
- Western
- cool
- Unani
- cold & moist (the fruit, 2nd degree)
Affinity
where in the body it travels
Organs / channels
- TCM
- Heart · Liver · Large Intestine (the kernel)
- Western
- blood · uterus · bowels · nerves
- Unani
- stomach · intestines
PRACTICE
Virtue
Actions
- TCM
- breaks up and invigorates stagnant blood, dispels blood stasis and reduces masses, moistens the Intestines to move the stool; the leaf-decoction kills parasites externally
- Western
- kernel and flower a mild laxative, sedative and vermifuge; the leaf laxative and anthelmintic; the fruit cooling and nutritive
- Unani
- the fruit mubarrid (cooling) and mulaiyin (laxative), quenching thirst and heat; the leaves and flowers mushil (purgative) and a vermifuge for worms
Cautions
Contraindications: pregnancy — the kernel is a strong blood-mover and emmenagogue; loose stool and diarrhoea; heavy menstrual bleeding or a tendency to haemorrhage
Toxicity: the kernel contains amygdalin and yields hydrocyanic acid — bitter and toxic in quantity; use only in dose, and never the raw kernels as food
Interactions
- Western
- anticoagulants: additive with the kernel's blood-invigorating, stasis-breaking action, raising bleeding risk
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