Witnessed by: Unani
Maida lakri (Litsea chinensis), of the Lauraceae family. Evergreen tree with soft grey bark and glossy leaves, the young shoots downy; native range: moist deciduous forest of India, Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia through southern China. Globally recognized as maida lakri, mughas in Urdu, maida lakdi, meda lakdi in Hindi, and Indian laurel, soft bark laurel in English. The part used is bark (the mucilaginous inner bark); leaf. Grey soft bark that becomes slippery and glutinous when chewed or wetted, near-tasteless and faintly astringent, drawing out into a bland slime.
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.
MAIDA LAKRI
IDENTITY
Name
- Common
- maida lakri
- Scientific name
- Litsea chinensis Lam.
- Family
- Lauraceae
Form
- Part used
- bark (the mucilaginous inner bark); leaf
PROPERTIES
Nature
Taste
how the plant declares itself on the tongue
- Unani
- mucilaginous · bland · astringent
Temperature
- Unani
- cold (1st degree)
Affinity
where in the body it travels
Organs / channels
- Unani
- intestines · stomach · joints · skin
PRACTICE
Virtue
Actions
- Unani
- mulattif (demulcent), qabiz (astringent), muhallil-e-waram (resolves swelling), muqawwi-e-meda (stomachic), musakkin-e-alam (allays pain)
Cautions
- Contraindications
- cold and phlegmatic temperaments, and cold sluggish states of the stomach
- Toxicity
- low; a bulk mucilage that may constipate on long use
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