Witnessed by: TCM · Ayurveda · Western · Unani
Ginger (Zingiber officinale), of the Zingiberaceae family. Reed-like perennial rising from a branching aromatic rhizome; native range: Tropical Asia, likely maritime Southeast Asia and southern China; unknown in the wild, cultivated everywhere warm since prehistory. Globally recognized as shunthi (dried) / ardraka (fresh) / vishvabheshaja in Sanskrit, adrak (fresh) / sonth (dried) in Hindi, sheng jiang (生薑, fresh) / gan jiang (乾薑, dried) in Chinese, zanjabeel (زنجبيل) in Arabic, and common ginger in English. The part used is rhizome, used fresh or dried. A knobbly buff 'hand' of rhizome, pale and juicy within; fresh it is hot, fragrant and pungent, and drying concentrates it to a fiery, penetrating, almost peppery heat.
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.
GINGER
IDENTITY
Name
- Common
- Ginger
- Scientific name
- Zingiber officinale Roscoe
- Family
- Zingiberaceae
Form
- Part used
- rhizome, used fresh or dried
PROPERTIES
Nature
Taste
how the plant declares itself on the tongue
- TCM
- pungent
- Ayurveda
- dominant: pungent (katu)
- Western
- pungent, aromatic, acrid
- Unani
- pungent · aromatic
Temperature
- TCM
- fresh (sheng jiang): warm · dried (gan jiang): hot
- Ayurveda
- heating (ushna)
- Western
- hot
- Unani
- hot & dry (3rd degree)
Affinity
where in the body it travels
Organs / channels
- TCM
- Lung · Spleen · Stomach
- Western
- stomach · digestion · lungs · circulation
- Unani
- stomach · liver · brain · nerves
PRACTICE
Virtue
Actions
- TCM
- fresh ginger releases the exterior and disperses cold, warms the middle to stop vomiting ('the sacred remedy for vomiting'), warms the Lung to stop cough and resolves the toxicity of fish, crab and other herbs; dried ginger warms the middle, rescues devastated yang and warms the Lungs to transform thin phlegm
- Ayurveda
- dipana-pachana (kindles digestion and burns ama), vata-kapha-hara, hridya (cardiac), a carminative, anti-emetic and analgesic, and the foremost anupana-corrective added to countless formulas
- Western
- carminative, diaphoretic, circulatory stimulant, anti-emetic, antispasmodic and warming digestive tonic
- Unani
- muharrik (stimulant), kaasir-e-riyah (carminative), hazim (digestive), muqawwi-e-bah (aphrodisiac) and muqawwi-e-dimagh (brain and nerve tonic)
Cautions
Contraindications: high pitta and heat states, acid stomach, ulcers and bleeding disorders; large medicinal doses in pregnancy (small anti-nausea doses are traditional)
Toxicity: safe as a food and spice; large doses may cause heartburn and gastric irritation
Interactions
- Western
- anticoagulants: additive antiplatelet effect at high dose · antidiabetic agents: additive blood-glucose lowering
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