Witnessed by: Western · Unani
Scammony (Convolvulus scammonia), of the Convolvulaceae family. Twining perennial bindweed with a thick, fleshy, tapering root many years old; native range: the eastern Mediterranean and Asia Minor — Syria, Anatolia, Greece and the Levant, on dry stony hillsides. Globally recognized as Syrian bindweed, scammony bindweed in English, saqmonia (سقمونيا), mahmooda (محموده) in Arabic, and saqmonia in Hindi. The part used is the dried gum-resin (scammony) that exudes from the cut living root; also the whole dried root. The resin comes in greenish-grey to blackish angular pieces or cakes, brittle with a resinous cheese-like fracture, a faint peculiar smell and a slight acrid taste that turns milky (emulsifies) when chewed or ground with water.
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.
SCAMMONY
IDENTITY
Name
- Common
- Scammony
- Scientific name
- Convolvulus scammonia L.
- Family
- Convolvulaceae
Form
- Part used
- the dried gum-resin (scammony) that exudes from the cut living root; also the whole dried root
PROPERTIES
Nature
Taste
how the plant declares itself on the tongue
- Western
- acrid, bitter
- Unani
- acrid, bitter
Temperature
- Western
- hot (heating and irritant)
- Unani
- hot & dry (in the third degree)
Affinity
where in the body it travels
Organs / channels
- Western
- bowels · intestines · liver
- Unani
- intestines · liver · stomach
PRACTICE
Virtue
Actions
- Western
- drastic hydragogue cathartic — a powerful purgative that draws copious watery stools; cholagogue and anthelmintic
- Unani
- mus-hil-e-qavi (a strong drastic purgative), mus-hil-e-balgham-o-sauda (evacuant of phlegm and black bile), muhallil (resolvent), and killer of worms (qatil-e-deedan)
Cautions
Contraindications: Contraindicated in pregnancy (a reputed abortifacient that can provoke violent purging and reflex uterine action), in lactation, in children and the aged or debilitated, and in any inflammatory or ulcerative bowel condition — gastroenteritis, colitis, dysentery, appendicitis, intestinal obstruction, haemorrhoids and rectal bleeding. Not for habitual or self-directed use.
Toxicity: A violent irritant purgative. The active glycoside-resin (jalapin / scammonin) is inert on the stomach but is split by the bile and intestinal juices into an intensely irritant principle that floods the bowel — hence its hydragogue drastic action. In excess or in the unguarded (uncorrected) resin it causes severe gripping and colic, watery and bloody stools, tenesmus, violent vomiting, prostration, and dangerous fluid and electrolyte (potassium) loss with dehydration and collapse; large doses give a superpurgation that can be fatal, especially in children and the weak. It is irritant to the skin and mucous membranes on handling. Management is stopping the drug, demulcents to soothe the gut, and vigorous fluid and electrolyte replacement.
Interactions
- Western
- diuretics: compounded fluid and potassium loss from drastic purging plus diuresis, risking dehydration and hypokalaemia · cardiac glycosides: purgative-induced hypokalaemia potentiates cardiac glycoside toxicity and arrhythmia
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