Witnessed by: Ayurveda
Gummy gardenia (Gardenia gummifera), of the Rubiaceae family. Small crooked deciduous shrub or tree of dry stony ground, resin exuding from the young shoots; native range: dry deciduous forest and rocky hills of peninsular India. Globally recognized as nadihingu in Sanskrit, dikamali in Hindi, and gummy gardenia, Cambodia gum, dikamali in English. The part used is gum-resin. Sticky greenish-yellow resin, bitter and acrid with a heavy antiseptic smell that lingers on the fingers.
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.
GUMMY GARDENIA
IDENTITY
Name
- Common
- gummy gardenia
- Scientific name
- Gardenia gummifera L.f.
- Family
- Rubiaceae
Form
- Part used
- gum-resin
PROPERTIES
Nature
Taste
how the plant declares itself on the tongue
- Ayurveda
- bitter · pungent · astringent (tikta, katu, kashaya)
Temperature
- Ayurveda
- heating (ushna virya)
PRACTICE
Virtue
Actions
- Ayurveda
- expels worms, carminative and antispasmodic, dispels wind and colic, cleans and dresses foul ulcers, antiseptic
Cautions
- Contraindications
- aggravated pitta and inflamed gut; the crude resin is best purified before internal use
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