Witnessed by: TCM
Asian pear, of the Rosaceae family. Deciduous rose-family tree, white-flowered in spring, bearing a round russeted pome with crisp granular flesh; native range: East Asia — China, Japan and Korea; grown throughout the temperate East. Globally recognized as li (梨), li zhi (梨汁, the juice), li pi (梨皮, the peel), tian shui li (甜水梨, the sweet juicy pear) in Chinese, and Asian pear, sand pear, nashi in English. The part used is the juice and the flesh of the fruit; also the peel. A round, russet-freckled fruit, the flesh white, crisp and gritty with stone-cells, brimming with a sweet, faintly sour, cooling juice.
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.
ASIAN PEAR
IDENTITY
Name
- Common
- Asian pear
- Family
- Rosaceae
Form
- Part used
- the juice and the flesh of the fruit; also the peel
PROPERTIES
Nature
Taste
how the plant declares itself on the tongue
- TCM
- sweet · sour (faintly)
Temperature
- TCM
- cool
Affinity
where in the body it travels
Organs / channels
- TCM
- Lung · Stomach · Heart
PRACTICE
Virtue
Actions
- TCM
- generates fluids and quenches thirst, clears heat, moistens the Lung and dryness, transforms phlegm and stops cough
Cautions
- Contraindications
- cold, weak digestion with loose stool; cold cough with clear watery phlegm; postpartum and childhood cold conditions — the fruit is cool, moist and slippery
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