Witnessed by: Ayurveda
Camel thorn (Alhagi maurorum), of the Fabaceae family. Low, intricately branched spiny under-shrub with small leaves and pink pea-flowers; native range: dry sandy plains and wastelands of India, Persia and the Middle East. Globally recognized as yavasa · yavasaka · duralabha in Sanskrit, javasa · jawasa in Hindi, and camel thorn, Persian manna plant in English. The part used is whole plant (panchanga). Bitter and faintly astringent, the thorny twigs sometimes coated with sweet manna.
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.
CAMEL THORN
IDENTITY
Name
- Common
- camel thorn
- Scientific name
- Alhagi maurorum Medik.
- Family
- Fabaceae
Form
- Part used
- whole plant (panchanga)
PROPERTIES
Nature
Taste
how the plant declares itself on the tongue
- Ayurveda
- bitter (tikta) · astringent (kashaya) · sweet (madhura)
Temperature
- Ayurveda
- cooling (shita)
PRACTICE
Virtue
Actions
- Ayurveda
- pitta-shamaka (cooling), raktapitta-hara (staunches bleeding of heat), trishna-nashaka (relieves thirst) and jvaraghna (antipyretic)
Cautions
- Toxicity
- none of note in customary use
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