Witnessed by: Ayurveda
Cascarilla (Croton eluteria), of the Euphorbiaceae family. Small shrub or tree with silvery-scaled leaves; native range: the Bahamas and the Greater Antilles, chiefly Eleuthera and Long Island. Globally recognized as cascarilla, sweetwood bark, eleuthera bark in English, and kaskarila in Hindi. The part used is bark. Quilled fissured pieces, brownish under a white lichen-crusted outer coat, brittle and short in the break; the taste warmly aromatic and strongly bitter, the burning bark giving a musky spiced smoke.
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.
CASCARILLA
IDENTITY
Name
- Common
- cascarilla
- Scientific name
- Croton eluteria (L.) W.Wright
- Family
- Euphorbiaceae
Form
- Part used
- bark
PROPERTIES
Nature
Taste
how the plant declares itself on the tongue
- Ayurveda
- bitter (tikta)
Temperature
- Ayurveda
- heating (ushna)
PRACTICE
Virtue
Actions
- Ayurveda
- deepana-pachana (aromatic bitter, stomachic and digestive), balya (tonic), jwaraghna (febrifuge), vata-anulomana (carminative)
Cautions
- Contraindications
- pitta conditions and hyperacidity; pregnancy
- Toxicity
- large doses nauseate and vomit; otherwise low toxicity
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