Witnessed by: Western

Carbonate of iron (Siderite), of the carbonate mineral family. Pale yellowish- to greyish-brown rhombohedral crystals and cleavable masses, oxidising to a rusty brown crust; native range: bedded in the clay-ironstones and sedimentary iron formations, and as a vein and replacement mineral; the pharmaceutical article is precipitated from ferrous sulphate with an alkaline carbonate rather than mined. Globally recognized as ferri carbonas, massa ferri carbonatis in Latin, and carbonate of iron, siderite, chalybite, spathic iron in English. The part used is the precipitated salt, kept from the air with sugar or honey. Fawn to brown, glassy on the cleavage and heavy for a carbonate; the precipitated salt is a pale green powder, nearly tasteless and insoluble, that browns and rusts as it stands in the air.

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.

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