Witnessed by: Ayurveda · Unani

Lac (Kerria lacca), of the Kerriidae (Insecta) family. The lac insect — a tiny scale insect of the Kerriidae that encrusts the twigs of its host trees in a resinous secretion; native range: the lac insect on its host trees — palasa, kusum, ber — across India, Bangladesh and southeast Asia. Globally recognized as lākṣā, jatu in Sanskrit, lakh in Hindi, luk, luk maghsool in Urdu, and lac, stick-lac, shellac in English. The part used is the resin (stick-lac, broken from the twig; washed and freed of the insect bodies and colour for luk maghsool). Hard, brittle, crimson-to-brown resin in crusts on the twig, breaking with a glassy fracture, astringent on the tongue, near odourless cold, resinous when heated.

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.

This is the card. Sign in for the full four-tradition entry — the aligned TCM · Ayurveda · Western · Unani reading, actions, dosing and cautions.