Witnessed by: TCM · Ayurveda · Western · Unani
Tribulus (Tribulus terrestris), of the Zygophyllaceae family. Prostrate hairy annual trailing flat over the ground; native range: Warm temperate and tropical dry ground across southern Europe, Africa and Asia; a cosmopolitan weed of sandy waste places. Globally recognized as gokshura / gokantaka in Sanskrit, gokhru in Hindi, ci ji li (刺蒺藜) / bai ji li in Chinese, khar-e-khasak in Arabic, and puncture vine, caltrops, goat's-head in English. The part used is fruit (and whole herb / root in Ayurveda). Small yellow five-petalled flowers give hard woody fruits armed with sharp spreading spines; the dried fruit is faintly aromatic and sweetish, and grits underfoot.
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.
TRIBULUS
IDENTITY
Name
- Common
- Tribulus
- Scientific name
- Tribulus terrestris L.
- Family
- Zygophyllaceae
Form
- Part used
- fruit (and whole herb / root in Ayurveda)
PROPERTIES
Nature
Taste
how the plant declares itself on the tongue
- TCM
- bitter · pungent
- Ayurveda
- dominant: sweet (madhura)
- Western
- sweet, mucilaginous
- Unani
- sweet
Temperature
- TCM
- neutral (slightly warm)
- Ayurveda
- cooling (shita)
- Western
- cool
- Unani
- temperate
Affinity
where in the body it travels
Organs / channels
- TCM
- Liver
- Western
- kidneys · bladder · uterus
- Unani
- kidneys · bladder · uterus
PRACTICE
Virtue
Actions
- TCM
- calms the Liver, extinguishes internal wind and subdues rising Liver yang, brightens the eyes and dispels wind, and spreads constrained Liver qi
- Ayurveda
- mutrala (diuretic), vrishya (aphrodisiac and reproductive tonic), balya (strengthening), rasayana, and ashmarighna (breaks and clears stones)
- Western
- diuretic, demulcent, lithotriptic and tonic; a restorative to the genito-urinary tract
- Unani
- mudirr-e-baul (diuretic), muqawwi-e-bah (aphrodisiac), musakkin (soothing) and mufattit-e-hasat (breaks stone)
Cautions
Contraindications: caution in pregnancy and in severe kidney disease; the pure yin-deficient headache without wind is not for its dispersing action
Toxicity: generally safe in food and medicinal dose; the herb (not the fruit) has caused photosensitisation and staggers in grazing sheep
Interactions
- Western
- antidiabetic agents: additive blood-glucose lowering · antihypertensives: additive blood-pressure lowering and diuresis
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