Witnessed by: Western
Gambir (Uncaria gambir), of the Rubiaceae family. Woody climbing shrub with hooked stems and opposite leaves, the hooks its ladder into the canopy; native range: the Malay peninsula, Sumatra and the islands of the Malay archipelago; long cultivated for the drug, chiefly about Singapore and Riau. Globally recognized as gambir in Malay, kath, katha in Hindi, and gambir, pale catechu, terra japonica, white cutch in English. The part used is the dried aqueous extract of the leaves and young shoots. Light, dull, pale-brown to earthy cubes, breaking with a matt porous fracture; the taste strongly astringent at first and puckering, then turning oddly sweetish as it clears.
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.
GAMBIR
IDENTITY
Name
- Common
- gambir
- Scientific name
- Uncaria gambir (W.Hunter) Roxb.
- Family
- Rubiaceae
Form
- Part used
- the dried aqueous extract of the leaves and young shoots
PROPERTIES
Nature
Taste
how the plant declares itself on the tongue
- Western
- astringent · bitter (puckering, then sweetish in the aftertaste)
Temperature
- Western
- cool
Affinity
where in the body it travels
Organs / channels
- Western
- mucous membranes · bowels
PRACTICE
Virtue
Actions
- Western
- powerful astringent, styptic to relaxed tissue, mildly tonic to the mucous membranes
Cautions
Toxicity: low; the astringency is the whole of its force, and excess simply gripes and constipates
Interactions
- Western
- CYP450-metabolised drugs: the heavy tannin load may bind alkaloids and other drugs in the gut and reduce their absorption
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