Patchouli, the fragrance that awakens the Spleen

Before becoming a famous perfume, patchouli was a plant of the Chinese pharmacopoeia: Huo Xiang, « the fragrance of the bean leaf ». Li Shizhen gives the key: its leaves look like those of the bean, and the plant is fragrant. This perennial of the Lamiaceae family, with square, downy stems, releases a powerful scent when its leaves are crushed. Native to tropical South-East Asia, it is grown in China from cuttings; its reference growing region is Guangdong, where it counts among the « ten great plants », hence its official name, Guang Huo Xiang.

Transforming Dampness, awakening the Spleen

In Traditional Chinese Medicine, patchouli is slightly warm, with a pungent, aromatic flavour. Pungency disperses and sets things in motion; aroma, which tradition counts almost as a flavour in its own right, penetrates, opens and awakens where Dampness has clogged everything up. Associated with the Spleen and the Stomach, the Middle where Dampness settles, it is traditionally used to transform Dampness through aroma: its scent awakens the Spleen and gives it back its work. It also calms the Middle and brings back down a Stomach Qi that rises when Dampness blocks the way. The Ben Cao Zheng Yi calls it « subtly fragrant and slightly warm », a substance to awaken the Spleen and gladden the Stomach.

Inside and out, the plant of humid summers

Also associated with the Lung, which governs the surface of the body, patchouli works inside and out: pungent and warm, it gently opens the surface without forcing perspiration, while its aroma dissolves the Dampness within. Tradition thus makes it the plant of humid summers. With Chinese thoroughwort (Pei Lan), it forms the best-known aromatic pairing for Dampness in the Middle. Its whole art lies in not losing its aroma: in a decoction, it is added last, in the very final minutes of cooking.