Witnessed by: TCM
Rice bean (Vigna umbellata), of the Fabaceae (Leguminosae) family. Twining or trailing annual pulse with trifoliate leaves, bright yellow flowers and slender cylindrical pods; native range: southern and eastern Asia; long cultivated in China, India and Southeast Asia as a pulse and a green manure. Globally recognized as chi xiao dou (赤小豆), chi dou (赤豆) in Chinese, tsuru-azuki in Japanese, and rice bean, red bean in English. The part used is the ripe seed; also the seed-coat alone (chi xiao dou pi). Slim, oblong, slightly compressed seeds of a dull brick-red, with a pale ridged hilum down one side; hard, nearly odourless, the taste faintly sweet then sour.
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.
RICE BEAN
IDENTITY
Name
- Common
- rice bean
- Scientific name
- Vigna umbellata (Thunb.) Ohwi & H.Ohashi
- Family
- Fabaceae (Leguminosae)
Form
- Part used
- the ripe seed; also the seed-coat alone (chi xiao dou pi)
PROPERTIES
Nature
Taste
how the plant declares itself on the tongue
- TCM
- sweet · sour
Temperature
- TCM
- neutral (ping)
Affinity
where in the body it travels
Organs / channels
- TCM
- Heart · Small Intestine
PRACTICE
Virtue
Actions
- TCM
- promotes urination and reduces oedema, drains damp and dispels jaundice, resolves toxicity and disperses abscesses and swellings, cools and moves the blood
Cautions
- Contraindications
- prolonged use in the thin and dry, or where the yin is depleted — its steady draining of water is drying
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