Witnessed by: TCM · Ayurveda · Western · Unani
Black nightshade (Solanum nigrum), of the Solanaceae family. Sprawling annual herb with small white star flowers and clustered berries ripening from green to glossy black; native range: cosmopolitan weed of Eurasia and Africa, following cultivation across the temperate and tropical world. Globally recognized as kakamachi in Sanskrit, makoy in Hindi, long kui (龙葵) in Chinese, inab-us-salab (عنب الثعلب) in Arabic, and garden nightshade, morel, sunberry in English. The part used is whole herb (aerial parts); ripe berries. Dull green ovate leaves with a rank, faintly bitter herbaceous smell; the ripe black berries mild and slightly sweet, the green ones acrid and to be shunned.
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.
BLACK NIGHTSHADE
IDENTITY
Name
- Common
- Black nightshade
- Scientific name
- Solanum nigrum L.
- Family
- Solanaceae
Form
- Part used
- whole herb (aerial parts); ripe berries
PROPERTIES
Nature
Taste
how the plant declares itself on the tongue
- TCM
- bitter · sweet
- Ayurveda
- bitter (tikta) · pungent (katu)
- Western
- bitter
- Unani
- bitter
Temperature
- TCM
- cold
- Ayurveda
- heating (ushna)
- Western
- cool
- Unani
- cold & moist (1st–2nd degree)
Affinity
where in the body it travels
Organs / channels
- TCM
- Bladder · Liver
- Western
- liver · skin · nerves
- Unani
- liver · stomach
PRACTICE
Virtue
Actions
- TCM
- clears heat and resolves toxicity, cools and moves the blood, reduces swelling and promotes urination
- Ayurveda
- yakrit-uttejaka (liver rasayana), shothahara (anti-oedematous), tridoshahara, kushtaghna (skin), krimighna
- Western
- sedative, mildly narcotic, anodyne, diaphoretic; externally emollient and anti-inflammatory
- Unani
- muhallil (resolvent), murattib (moistening), mufattih-e-sudad (deobstruent of the liver)
Cautions
Contraindications: pregnancy and lactation; the green unripe berries and old foliage; avoid in the debilitated and in children
Toxicity: unripe green berries and the herb contain the glycoalkaloid solanine — overdose brings nausea, vomiting, colic, diarrhoea, drowsiness and, in serious poisoning, delirium and respiratory depression; the ripe black berry is far less toxic but excess is still hazardous
Interactions
- Western
- sedatives / CNS depressants: additive central depression from the herb's mild narcotic action
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