Witnessed by: TCM · Ayurveda · Western · Unani
Kutki (Picrorhiza kurroa), of the Plantaginaceae (formerly Scrophulariaceae) family. Low creeping alpine perennial with a woody rhizome and a rosette of toothed leaves; native range: Alpine Himalaya from Kashmir to Sikkim, 3000–5000 m, on rocky slopes and moist ledges. Globally recognized as katuka / katuki / tikta in Sanskrit, kutki / kaur in Hindi, hu huang lian (胡黄连) in Chinese, kutki in Arabic, and kutki · Indian gentian · hellebore of the Himalaya in English. The part used is rhizome and root. Short, dark, curved rootstock, grey-brown without and near-black within, breaking with a horny fracture; intensely, persistently bitter with no sweetness to follow.
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.
KUTKI
IDENTITY
Name
- Common
- Kutki
- Scientific name
- Picrorhiza kurroa Royle ex Benth.
- Family
- Plantaginaceae (formerly Scrophulariaceae)
Form
- Part used
- rhizome and root
PROPERTIES
Nature
Taste
how the plant declares itself on the tongue
- TCM
- bitter
- Ayurveda
- bitter (tikta)
- Western
- bitter
- Unani
- bitter
Temperature
- TCM
- cold
- Ayurveda
- cooling (shita)
- Western
- cool
- Unani
- hot & dry (2nd degree) by deobstruent action, though cold by some reckonings
Affinity
where in the body it travels
Organs / channels
- TCM
- Heart · Liver · Stomach · Large Intestine
- Western
- liver · digestion · blood
- Unani
- liver · stomach · intestines
PRACTICE
Virtue
Actions
- TCM
- clears heat and drains deficiency-fire, dries damp-heat, cools the blood and relieves childhood nutritional impairment (gan) fever
- Ayurveda
- tikta (bitter tonic), dipana-pachana, yakrituttejaka (hepatic stimulant), bhedana (mild purgative), jvaraghna (antipyretic) and krimighna
- Western
- bitter tonic, hepatic, cholagogue, febrifuge, immunomodulator — a leading protective liver herb of modern clinical practice
- Unani
- mufatteh-e-sudad (deobstruent of the liver), muqawwi-e-jigar (liver tonic), daf-e-humma (antipyretic), and a purgative of bilious matter
Cautions
Contraindications: cold, weak digestion and vata depletion; diarrhoea from cold; large doses in pregnancy for its purgative reach
Toxicity: generally safe in dose; excess purges and gripes, and its extreme bitterness may nauseate
Sourcing status: cites-ii
Interactions
- Western
- antidiabetic agents: may add to glucose-lowering effect · immunosuppressants: immunostimulant action may theoretically oppose therapy
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