Witnessed by: Ayurveda · Unani

Night jasmine (Nyctanthes arbor-tristis), of the Oleaceae family. Small shrubby tree with rough, quadrangular hairy branchlets; native range: Indian subcontinent — sub-Himalayan tracts through central India, to Thailand. Globally recognized as parijata, shephalika in Sanskrit, harsingar in Hindi, harsingar in Arabic, and coral jasmine, tree of sorrow, parijat in English. The part used is leaf (chiefly); also flower, bark and seed. Harsh, sandpapery leaves; small white flowers with a bright orange-red corolla tube, sweetly fragrant at night and shed by morning. The leaf juice is intensely bitter.

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.

NIGHT JASMINE

IDENTITY

Name

Common: Night jasmine
Scientific name: Nyctanthes arbor-tristis L.
Family: Oleaceae

Form

Part used: leaf (chiefly); also flower, bark and seed

PROPERTIES

Nature

Taste

how the plant declares itself on the tongue

Ayurveda: bitter (tikta) · pungent (katu)
Unani: bitter (with acrid tail)

Temperature

Ayurveda: heating (ushna)

Unani: hot (2nd–3rd degree)

convergence: both {witness_count} witnesses read it hot — a bitter, drying heat that drives out cold humours

Affinity

where in the body it travels

Organs / channels

Unani: nerves · joints · liver

PRACTICE

Virtue

Actions

Ayurveda: jwaraghna (febrifuge, esp. in vishama jwara), vata-kaphahara, krimighna (anthelmintic), rechana (mild laxative), kesya (for the hair)
Unani: muhallil (resolvent), musakkin (sedative to pain), daf-e-humma (febrifuge), muhallil-e-waram (disperses swellings)

Cautions

Contraindications: pregnancy (bitter, heating and emmenagogue); high-pitta and dry states
Toxicity: large doses of leaf juice may provoke nausea; otherwise well tolerated

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