Witnessed by: TCM · Western
Chickweed (Stellaria media), of the Caryophyllaceae family. Sprawling annual with a single line of hairs running along one side of the stem; native range: Eurasia; now a cosmopolitan weed of temperate gardens and waste ground. Globally recognized as fan lü (繁縷) in Chinese, and starwort, satin flower, winterweed, adder's mouth in English. The part used is whole herb, fresh aerial parts. Tender succulent green with tiny white star-flowers, nearly tasteless and faintly sweet, cool and mucilaginous when bruised.
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.
CHICKWEED
IDENTITY
Name
- Common
- Chickweed
- Scientific name
- Stellaria media (L.) Vill.
- Family
- Caryophyllaceae
Form
- Part used
- whole herb, fresh aerial parts
PROPERTIES
Nature
Taste
how the plant declares itself on the tongue
- TCM
- sweet
- Western
- bland · mucilaginous (faintly saline, sap-like)
Temperature
TCM: cool
Western: cool
convergence: both witnesses ({witness_count}) name a gentle coolness, a refrigerant weed in either hemisphere
Affinity
where in the body it travels
Organs / channels
- TCM
- Liver · Large Intestine
- Western
- skin · mucous membranes · kidneys · bowels
PRACTICE
Virtue
Actions
- TCM
- clears heat, resolves toxicity, cools and moves the blood, reduces swelling
- Western
- refrigerant, demulcent, emollient, vulnerary, mildly diuretic
Cautions
- Contraindications
- cold, damp digestive weakness with loose stool, whose cold moist nature the herb may aggravate
- Toxicity
- very low; large quantities of the raw herb may loosen the bowels
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