Witnessed by: TCM · Ayurveda · Unani
Wheat (Triticum aestivum), of the Poaceae (Gramineae) family. Annual tufted grass with jointed hollow culms and a terminal bearded spike; native range: The Fertile Crescent of the Near East; the staple grain of the temperate world. Globally recognized as godhuma in Sanskrit, gehun in Hindi, xiao mai (小麦); fu xiao mai (浮小麦, light wheat) in Chinese, hinta / qamh in Arabic, and bread wheat, common wheat; light/floating wheat (the medicinal empty grain) in English. The part used is grain (the light, unfilled grain fu xiao mai for medicine; whole grain and flour as food). Plump amber grooved grains, floury and sweet; the medicinal fu xiao mai lighter, shrunken and hollow — those that float rather than sink.
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.
WHEAT
IDENTITY
Name
- Common
- Wheat
- Scientific name
- Triticum aestivum L.
- Family
- Poaceae (Gramineae)
Form
- Part used
- grain (the light, unfilled grain fu xiao mai for medicine; whole grain and flour as food)
PROPERTIES
Nature
Taste
how the plant declares itself on the tongue
- TCM
- sweet
- Ayurveda
- sweet (madhura)
- Unani
- sweet (bland, mild)
Temperature
- TCM
- cool
- Ayurveda
- cooling (sheeta)
- Unani
- hot (& moist, 1st degree)
Affinity
where in the body it travels
Organs / channels
- TCM
- Heart
- Unani
- stomach
PRACTICE
Virtue
Actions
- TCM
- fu xiao mai stops sweating (spontaneous and night sweats) and clears heat; whole wheat nourishes the Heart and calms the spirit, augments qi and eases the mind
- Ayurveda
- brmhana (nourishing and bulk-building), balya (strengthening), jivaniya (vitalising), vata-pitta-shamaka, snehana (unctuous)
- Unani
- mughazzi (nutritive), muqawwi (tonic), mullain (demulcent and soothing), muallid-e-khun (blood-forming)
Cautions
- Contraindications
- kapha excess, obesity and sluggish digestion (heavy and building); gluten intolerance / coeliac disease
- Toxicity
- a food, non-toxic; provokes symptoms only in coeliac and wheat-allergic individuals
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