Witnessed by: Ayurveda
Gurjun (Dipterocarpus turbinatus), of the Dipterocarpaceae family. Tall straight-boled evergreen forest tree of the dipterocarp canopy, the fruit a nut with two long strap-shaped wings; native range: evergreen forest of north-eastern India, the Andamans, Bangladesh, Burma and Indochina. Globally recognized as ajakarṇa · chāgakarṇa in Sanskrit, gurjan · garjan in Hindi, garjan in Bengali, and gurjun, gurjun balsam tree, wood-oil tree in English. The part used is oleoresin (gurjun balsam), and the bark. A thick greyish-brown oleoresin, fluorescing greenish when held to the light, smelling of turpentine and earth; the taste bitter and acrid. The bark astringent.
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.
GURJUN
IDENTITY
Name
- Common
- gurjun
- Scientific name
- Dipterocarpus turbinatus C.F.Gaertn.
- Family
- Dipterocarpaceae
Form
- Part used
- oleoresin (gurjun balsam), and the bark
PROPERTIES
Nature
Taste
how the plant declares itself on the tongue
- Ayurveda
- bitter (tikta) · astringent (kashaya)
Temperature
- Ayurveda
- cooling (shita)
PRACTICE
Virtue
Actions
- Ayurveda
- kushthaghna (acts on skin disease), vrana-ropana (heals ulcers), krimighna (antiseptic, kills the worm of the sore), mutrala (diuretic), kaphaghna (stimulating expectorant), grahi (astringent, of the bark)
Cautions
- Contraindications
- acute inflammation of the kidney; pregnancy
- Toxicity
- full doses of the balsam irritate the stomach and the urinary passages and may bring a rash; it is itself the commonest adulterant of copaiba, and a sample sold as either may be the other
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