Witnessed by: Unani

Egyptian clover (Trifolium alexandrinum), of the Fabaceae (Leguminosae) family. Erect annual clover with trifoliate leaves and pale creamy-yellow heads, cut repeatedly through the cool season; native range: the eastern Mediterranean and the Nile valley; carried into India as a winter fodder and now grown throughout the northern plains. Globally recognized as birsim in Arabic, ispast in Persian, tukhm-e-ispast, barseem in Urdu, berseem in Hindi, and Egyptian clover, berseem clover in English. The part used is seed (tukhm). Small, hard, ovoid seeds, yellowish to purple-brown and glossy, nearly tasteless, turning slippery and mucilaginous when steeped.

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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