Witnessed by: Ayurveda
Clearing nut (Strychnos potatorum), of the Loganiaceae family. Moderate-sized deciduous tree of the dry forest, with opposite three-nerved leaves and a black one-seeded berry; native range: dry deciduous forest of peninsular India, Sri Lanka and Burma. Globally recognized as kataka · ambuprasadana · payahprasadi in Sanskrit, nirmali in Hindi, teṭṭāmbaral · tetran kottai in Tamil, and clearing nut, water-filter nut in English. The part used is seed; also the ripe fruit and the root. Rounded, flattened, silky-grey seeds about the size of a pea, softly downy to the finger, horny and very hard within; the taste faintly sweet and astringent, with none of the fierce bitterness of its poisonous cousin.
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.
CLEARING NUT
IDENTITY
Name
- Common
- clearing nut
- Scientific name
- Strychnos potatorum L.f.
- Family
- Loganiaceae
Form
- Part used
- seed; also the ripe fruit and the root
PROPERTIES
Nature
Taste
how the plant declares itself on the tongue
- Ayurveda
- sweet (madhura) · astringent (kashaya)
Temperature
- Ayurveda
- cooling (shita)
PRACTICE
Virtue
Actions
- Ayurveda
- ambu-prasadana / jala-nirmalikarana (clears turbid water), chakshushya (a drug for the eyes), mutrala (diuretic), prameha-hara (checks the sweet urine), and grahi (astringent)
Cautions
- Toxicity
- unlike its congener nux-vomica the seed carries no strychnine and is not a poison; the eye application should be prepared clean, and the drug is safe in the ordinary dose
This is the card. Sign in for the full four-tradition entry — the aligned TCM · Ayurveda · Western · Unani reading, actions, dosing and cautions.