Witnessed by: TCM · Unani
Babchi (Psoralea corylifolia), of the Fabaceae (Leguminosae) family. Erect annual herb with gland-dotted leaves; native range: the Indian subcontinent and South-East Asia, extending into southern China. Globally recognized as bu gu zhi (补骨脂), po gu zhi (破故纸) in Chinese, babchi in Arabic, and bakuchi, psoralea seed, malaya tea in English. The part used is ripe fruit / seed. Tiny kidney-shaped seeds, blackish-brown and oil-glandular, with a warm, aromatic, faintly bitter and resinous pungency.
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.
BABCHI
IDENTITY
Name
- Common
- Babchi
- Scientific name
- Psoralea corylifolia L.
- Family
- Fabaceae (Leguminosae)
Form
- Part used
- ripe fruit / seed
PROPERTIES
Nature
Taste
how the plant declares itself on the tongue
- TCM
- pungent · bitter
- Unani
- bitter · pungent
Temperature
- TCM
- warm
- Unani
- hot & dry (2nd–3rd degree)
Affinity
where in the body it travels
Organs / channels
- TCM
- Kidney · Spleen
- Unani
- skin · kidneys
PRACTICE
Virtue
Actions
- TCM
- warms and tonifies Kidney yang, secures essence, holds the urine, warms the Spleen to stop diarrhoea, aids the Kidney to grasp qi; applied externally for vitiligo and alopecia
- Unani
- mujaddid-e-lawn (restores skin colour), jali (detergent to the skin), muharrik (stimulant), a chief drug for baras and bahaq (leucoderma and tinea) taken with sun-exposure
Cautions
Contraindications: yin deficiency with heat, constipation from dryness, and hot skin conditions taken internally; not in pregnancy
Toxicity: the psoralen furocoumarins are strongly phototoxic — internal or applied use with sun can burn and blister the skin; prolonged or high intake has been linked to liver injury
Interactions
- Unani
- photosensitising drugs: seed psoralens are potent photosensitisers; additive phototoxic burning with other photosensitising agents and ultraviolet exposure · hepatotoxic drugs: furocoumarin constituents add to liver-injury risk with other hepatotoxic agents
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