Witnessed by: Ayurveda

Portia tree (Thespesia populnea), of the Malvaceae family. Small evergreen coastal tree with heart-shaped poplar-like leaves and a yellow hibiscus flower with a dark maroon eye, ageing to purple; native range: coasts and tidal creeks of the Old World tropics — the Indian littoral, Sri Lanka and out through the Pacific islands; planted inland as an avenue tree. Globally recognized as kapītana · parīṣa · gardabhāṇḍa in Sanskrit, paras pipal · bhendi in Hindi, poovarasu in Tamil, and portia tree, Indian tulip tree, umbrella tree in English. The part used is bark, fruit and its yellow juice, leaf, and root. The broken green fruit weeps a sticky yellow juice that stains the skin and the cloth; the bark fibrous and astringent to the tongue, faintly 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.

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