Witnessed by: TCM · Ayurveda · Western · Unani
Chaulmoogra (Hydnocarpus laurifolia), of the Achariaceae (formerly Flacourtiaceae) family. Evergreen tree bearing globose brown fruits packed with angular oily seeds; native range: Evergreen forests of the Western Ghats of India and Southeast Asia. Globally recognized as tuvaraka / garudaphala in Sanskrit, chalmogra in Hindi, da feng zi (大风子, 'great-wind seed') in Chinese, biankao in Arabic, and chaulmoogra tree, jangli-almond in English. The part used is the seed and its fixed oil (chaulmoogra oil). Hard grey-brown seeds yielding on pressing a thick, pale yellow, acrid oil that congeals in the cold — heavy, faintly rancid and clinging in smell.
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.
CHAULMOOGRA
IDENTITY
Name
- Common
- chaulmoogra
- Scientific name
- Hydnocarpus laurifolia (Dennst.) Sleumer
- Family
- Achariaceae (formerly Flacourtiaceae)
Form
- Part used
- the seed and its fixed oil (chaulmoogra oil)
PROPERTIES
Nature
Taste
how the plant declares itself on the tongue
- TCM
- pungent · bitter
- Ayurveda
- dominant: pungent (katu) · bitter (tikta) · astringent (kashaya)
- Western
- acrid · bitter
- Unani
- pungent · bitter
Temperature
TCM: hot
Ayurveda: heating (ushna)
Western: hot
Unani: hot & dry (3rd degree)
convergence: all {witness_count} witnesses read it hot — a penetrating, tissue-scouring heat aimed at the deep-seated cold of the 'great wind'
Affinity
where in the body it travels
Organs / channels
- TCM
- Liver · Spleen · Kidney
- Western
- skin · blood · mucous membranes
PRACTICE
Virtue
Actions
- TCM
- attacks toxin and kills parasites, dispels wind and dries damp — used almost wholly externally
- Ayurveda
- kushthaghna (heals skin and leprous disease), krimighna (antiparasitic), kandughna (anti-itch), vrana-shodhana (wound-cleansing), rasayana in kushtha
- Western
- alterative, antileprotic, parasiticide, given as the injected or dressed oil
- Unani
- for juzam (leprosy) and bahak/baras (leucoderma and skin disease); mujaffif (desiccant) and antiparasitic
Cautions
Contraindications: pregnancy, pitta and heat states, and inflamed or broken skin where its acridity would injure; internal use only under skilled supervision
Toxicity: the oil is irritant and, in more than small internal doses, provokes nausea, vomiting, epigastric pain, headache and, taken far, kidney and liver irritation; the injected esters caused fever and local abscess — a drug of narrow margin requiring purification and restraint
Interactions
- Western
- hepatotoxic drugs: additive burden on the liver with prolonged internal dosing of the irritant oil
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