Witnessed by: Ayurveda
Rohida (Tecomella undulata), of the Bignoniaceae family. Small deciduous tree of the desert with wavy-margined narrow leaves and large orange to yellow trumpet flowers; native range: the arid north-west — Rajasthan, Gujarat, Punjab and the Thar, into Sind, Baluchistan and Arabia. Globally recognized as rohītaka · rohī · dāḍimapuṣpaka in Sanskrit, rohida · rohera in Hindi, and desert teak, marwar teak in English. The part used is stem bark. Rough, grey, deeply furrowed bark, yellowish and fibrous within, breaking with a splintery fracture; the taste bitter and astringent, drying the mouth.
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.
ROHITAKA
IDENTITY
Name
- Common
- rohida
- Scientific name
- Tecomella undulata (Sm.) Seem.
- Family
- Bignoniaceae
Form
- Part used
- stem bark
PROPERTIES
Nature
Taste
how the plant declares itself on the tongue
- Ayurveda
- bitter (tikta) · astringent (kashaya)
Temperature
- Ayurveda
- cooling (shita)
PRACTICE
Virtue
Actions
- Ayurveda
- yakriduttejaka (rouses the liver), plīhaghna (a drug of the spleen), gulmahara (dissolves abdominal masses), krimighna (anthelmintic), rechana (mildly purgative), and raktashodhaka (cleanses the blood)
Cautions
- Contraindications
- vata depletion and dry, cold constitutions in the large or long dose
- Toxicity
- low toxicity in the ordinary dose; excess may gripe and purge
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