Witnessed by: Ayurveda
Kokum (Garcinia indica), of the Clusiaceae family. Slender evergreen tree with drooping branches and glossy leaves, native to humid hill forest; native range: the evergreen forests of the Western Ghats of India. Globally recognized as vrikshamla in Sanskrit, kokam, amsul in Hindi, and kokum, wild mangosteen, red mango in English. The part used is fruit rind. Fleshy purple-black rind, intensely sour with an astringent edge, drying to a sticky dark leather.
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.
KOKUM
IDENTITY
Name
- Common
- kokum
- Scientific name
- Garcinia indica (Thouars) Choisy
- Family
- Clusiaceae
Form
- Part used
- fruit rind
PROPERTIES
Nature
Taste
how the plant declares itself on the tongue
- Ayurveda
- sour · astringent (amla, kashaya)
Temperature
- Ayurveda
- heating (ushna virya)
PRACTICE
Virtue
Actions
- Ayurveda
- kindles appetite and digestion, carminative, mildly laxative, cooling and refreshing as a drink, checks thirst and heat outwardly while sour within
Cautions
- Contraindications
- hyperacidity, gastric ulcer and aggravated pitta, where its sourness worsens burning
This is the card. Sign in for the full four-tradition entry — the aligned TCM · Ayurveda · Western · Unani reading, actions, dosing and cautions.