Witnessed by: Unani

Sumac (Rhus coriaria), of the Anacardiaceae family. Hairy deciduous shrub of dry stony ground with pinnate leaves, dense panicles of greenish flowers, and clustered red-brown fruits; native range: The Mediterranean basin and south-west Asia — Sicily and Spain east through Anatolia to Iran, on dry stony hillsides. Globally recognized as summaq (سماق) in Arabic, somaq in Persian, sumaq in Urdu, and Sicilian sumac, tanner's sumac, elm-leaved sumac in English. The part used is fruit (the dried, ground drupes); the leaves used in tanning. Small brick-red to purple hairy drupes, ground to a coarse dark-red powder; sharply sour and astringent, salty-tart on the tongue and puckering with tannin.

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.

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