Witnessed by: TCM · Ayurveda · Unani
Sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum), of the Poaceae (Gramineae) family. Tall stout perennial grass with jointed juicy canes; native range: New Guinea and tropical Southeast Asia; cultivated across the tropics since antiquity. Globally recognized as ikshu in Sanskrit, ganna in Hindi, gan zhe (甘蔗) in Chinese, and qasab as-sukkar (قصب السكر) in Arabic. The part used is stem (juice) and its products (jaggery, sugar-candy). Thick fibrous canes weeping a cool, watery, intensely sweet juice, cooling and demulcent on the tongue.
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.
SUGARCANE
IDENTITY
Name
- Common
- Sugarcane
- Scientific name
- Saccharum officinarum L.
- Family
- Poaceae (Gramineae)
Form
- Part used
- stem (juice) and its products (jaggery, sugar-candy)
PROPERTIES
Nature
Taste
how the plant declares itself on the tongue
- TCM
- sweet
- Ayurveda
- sweet (madhura)
- Unani
- sweet
Temperature
- TCM
- cool
- Ayurveda
- cooling (sheeta — the fresh juice)
- Unani
- hot (hot & moist, 1st degree — the refined sugar)
Affinity
where in the body it travels
Organs / channels
- TCM
- Lung · Stomach · Spleen
- Unani
- lungs · stomach · kidneys
PRACTICE
Virtue
Actions
- TCM
- generates fluids and moistens dryness, clears heat, harmonises the stomach and checks vomiting, relieves thirst
- Ayurveda
- brimhana (nourishing), vrishya (aphrodisiac), mutrala (diuretic), balya, snigdha, sheetala, raktapitta-hara
- Unani
- mumallis (demulcent), muvallid-e-khun (blood-forming), munaffis (expectorant), nutritive, laxative
Cautions
- Contraindications
- kapha excess, obesity, diabetes, and damp-phlegm conditions; the raw juice if unhygienically pressed
- Toxicity
- non-toxic in itself; excess cloys the stomach, breeds phlegm and worms and burdens the sweet-laden
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