Witnessed by: TCM · Ayurveda · Western · Unani
Fenugreek (Trigonella foenum-graecum), of the Fabaceae (Leguminosae) family. Erect aromatic annual with trifoliate leaves and slender curved pods; native range: The eastern Mediterranean and Western Asia; cultivated across the Mediterranean, the Near East, India and China since antiquity. Globally recognized as methika / methini in Sanskrit, methi in Hindi, hu lu ba (胡蘆巴) in Chinese, hulba (حلبة) in Arabic, and Greek hay, bird's-foot in English. The part used is seed (and the fresh leaf as a pot-herb). Small hard rhomboid ochre seeds, grooved on one side, hard and horny; bitter and mucilaginous, with a warm, unmistakable maple-and-curry aroma that scents the sweat.
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.
FENUGREEK
IDENTITY
Name
- Common
- Fenugreek
- Scientific name
- Trigonella foenum-graecum L.
- Family
- Fabaceae (Leguminosae)
Form
- Part used
- seed (and the fresh leaf as a pot-herb)
PROPERTIES
Nature
Taste
how the plant declares itself on the tongue
- TCM
- bitter
- Ayurveda
- dominant: bitter (tikta) · then: pungent (katu)
- Western
- bitter, mucilaginous, aromatic
- Unani
- bitter · pungent
Temperature
TCM: warm
Ayurveda: heating (ushna)
Western: warm
Unani: hot & dry (2nd degree)
convergence: all {witness_count} witnesses read the seed as warming — a warm, drying, kindling remedy in every tradition
Affinity
where in the body it travels
Organs / channels
- TCM
- Kidney · Liver
- Western
- digestion · lungs · kidneys · uterus
- Unani
- stomach · kidneys · uterus · lungs
PRACTICE
Virtue
Actions
- TCM
- warms the Kidneys and disperses cold, and dispels cold-damp to relieve painful obstruction and cold hernial pain in the lower abdomen
- Ayurveda
- dipana-pachana (kindles digestion), vata-kapha-hara, stanyajanana (galactagogue), balya (strengthening) and a warming tonic in weakness and convalescence
- Western
- demulcent, emollient, expectorant, galactagogue, febrifuge and digestive tonic; poulticed as an emollient to boils and inflammation
- Unani
- muhallil (resolvent), munzij-o-mukhrij-e-balgham (ripens and expels phlegm), mudirr (diuretic and emmenagogue) and mulaiyin (laxative emollient)
Cautions
Contraindications: high pitta and heat states; medicinal doses in pregnancy (a uterine stimulant), though small culinary and galactagogue use is traditional after birth
Toxicity: safe as a food; large doses may cause a maple-syrup odour of sweat and urine, loose stool and wind
Interactions
- Western
- antidiabetic agents: additive blood-glucose lowering · anticoagulants: coumarin constituents may add to antiplatelet and anticoagulant effect
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