Witnessed by: Unani
Persian meadow saffron (Merendera persica), of the Colchicaceae family. Small stemless alpine cormous perennial, the flower rising straight from the ground before or with the leaves; native range: Iran, Afghanistan and the western Himalayan tract, on stony alpine and sub-alpine slopes. Globally recognized as surinjan in Arabic, suranjan shireen (the sweet suranjan) in Persian, suranjan shireen in Urdu, and Persian meadow saffron in English. The part used is corm. Small, hard, wrinkled corm-slices, greyish-brown without and mealy-white within; the taste faintly sweetish and only slightly bitter — the character the name shīrīn points at, and the mark that separates it from the fiercely bitter grade.
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.
SURANJAN SHIREEN
IDENTITY
Name
- Common
- Persian meadow saffron
- Scientific name
- Merendera persica Boiss. & Kotschy
- Family
- Colchicaceae
Form
- Part used
- corm
PROPERTIES
Nature
Taste
how the plant declares itself on the tongue
- Unani
- sweet (shīrīn, the sweet grade, as against the bitter suranjan talkh)
Temperature
- Unani
- hot & dry (2nd degree)
Affinity
where in the body it travels
Organs / channels
- Unani
- joints · intestines
PRACTICE
Virtue
Actions
- Unani
- musakkin-e-alam (analgesic), muhallil-e-waram (resolves swelling), and mulayyin (mildly laxative)
Cautions
- Contraindications
- pregnancy; weak or ulcerated bowel, and the debilitated — the drug is given in the compound and the small dose
- Toxicity
- the corm is colchicine-bearing and the genus is a poisonous one — the margin between the therapeutic and the toxic dose is narrow. Excess brings violent purging, vomiting and abdominal pain, and severe overdose is dangerous to life. The bitter grade (suranjan talkh) is held the more violent of the two, but the sweet is not a mild drug.
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