Orache

Statema, B. C. P.

Plant

Orache

Atriplice

Known today as: Atriplex hortensis, garden orache, a spinach-like plant.
Kind: Plant, in 2 older authorities
Constituents: saponins, oxalates, betalains
Earliest authority here: Dioscorides (c. AD 40–90)
In other databases: Plants of the World Online search · GBIF search · Wikidata search
In the Canale glossary: On the Manner of Discerning and Healing the Bewitched, Appendix A: Part Three, Chapter 5: Vomitory Medicines

Revised October 1, 2026: Tradition, lore, modern assessment, and sources extended. Version 1, first published September 25, 2026.

Orache: what did Canale use it for?

Root and seed as vomits (ch. 5).

Orache: what does modern science say?

Pliny records the boiled seed as an emetic. A harmless leaf vegetable, rich in minerals; the seed in quantity would irritate the stomach, which is all the vomit amounts to.

Pharmacognosy & Toxicology

Constituents

Mechanism

A spinach relative eaten as a pot-herb; the root and seed in quantity are saponin-irritant enough to vomit, which was Canale’s use. Its oxalates are those of spinach.

Toxic dose

A food; the seed vomits in quantity.

Standing

A vegetable; no monograph.

Grieve, M. (1931). A Modern Herbal, “Orach.” Book, seen in reviews

Constituent names open the compound’s record at PubChem, and “ChEMBL” beside a name opens its record at ChEMBL, the European Bioinformatics Institute’s database of bioactive molecules. Where a mechanism line was checked against ChEMBL (ChEMBL 37, read 1 October 2026), the check is shown with the measured value and its source paper, or says plainly that nothing has been measured. Doses are as the references give them, for description only; this is not medical advice. Each source carries the result of its check against Crossref, PubMed, or the authority’s page: see Verification.

Orache: what lore surrounds it?

Orache was the spinach of the Middle Ages, grown red and green in the kitchen garden before the true spinach arrived from Persia through the Arabs; its name is from the Latin atriplex by way of French arroche.

Orache: what did the older authorities say?

Dioscorides: Gives atraphaxis, orache, raw or boiled, to soften the bowels, and the seed in honeyed water for the jaundice.
Pliny: Repeats the Greek complaint that it breeds dropsy and pallor, and gives the seed, with honey and water, as an emetic.

Sources

[98] Pliny the Elder. The Natural History. Trans. J. Bostock and H. T. Riley. London, 1855. Perseus Digital Library, Tufts University. Cited by book and chapter. Primary text

Pliny, Natural History XX. Primary text
Dioscorides, De materia medica II. Read in part · the text read

Verification

Checked

October 1, 2026

Passes

Every sentence read against its sources, in the pass over the remaining 343 entries
The Standing line checked against the authority it names (EMA, WHO, FDA, CITES, Commission E)
Every dated or regulatory claim checked by category across the database

Sources

4 cited: 1 read in part, 2 primary text, 1 book, seen in reviews.

Corrections

None were needed.

What was checked, how, and what was found is set out on the Verification page. A checked source is one whose record was found; it does not make the entry medical advice.

Cite This Entry

Version 1 · first published September 25, 2026 · last revised October 1, 2026

Chicago: “Orache.” In Materia Medica, edited by B. C. P. Statema. Version 1. The Thinking Press, 2026–. Last modified October 1, 2026. https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/orache.
MLA: “Orache.” Materia Medica, edited by B. C. P. Statema, version 1, The Thinking Press, 1 Oct. 2026, thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/orache. Accessed 8 Oct. 2026.
APA: Orache. (2026, October 1). In B. C. P. Statema (Ed.), Materia medica (Version 1). The Thinking Press. Retrieved October 8, 2026, from https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/orache

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