Witnessed by: Ayurveda
Wood apple (Limonia acidissima), of the Rutaceae family. Thorny deciduous tree with a woody-shelled round fruit; native range: dry deciduous forests and plains of India and Southeast Asia. Globally recognized as kapittha in Sanskrit, kaith in Hindi, and elephant apple, monkey fruit, curd fruit in English. The part used is fruit pulp (ripe and unripe), leaves. Grey scaly bark and a hard rind enclosing brown aromatic pulp; the unripe fruit is sharply astringent-sour, the ripe pulp sweet-sour and resinous.
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.
WOOD APPLE
IDENTITY
Name
- Common
- wood apple
- Scientific name
- Limonia acidissima L.
- Family
- Rutaceae
Form
- Part used
- fruit pulp (ripe and unripe), leaves
PROPERTIES
Nature
Taste
how the plant declares itself on the tongue
- Ayurveda
- sour · astringent · sweet (amla, kashaya, madhura)
Temperature
- Ayurveda
- cooling (shita)
PRACTICE
Virtue
Actions
- Ayurveda
- grahi (absorbent astringent), chardighna (antiemetic), hikkanigrahana (relieves hiccup), vishaghna (antitoxic)
Cautions
- Contraindications
- the ripe fruit taken in excess is heavy and may aggravate kapha and constipate
- Toxicity
- a wholesome food fruit with no notable toxicity
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