Punarnava RootBoerhavia diffusa

Dried roots of the spreading monsoon herb, greyish-brown, cut for milling.

About this material

Punarnava root is collected from Boerhavia diffusa, a prostrate herb that spreads across open ground through the monsoon and dies back afterwards, which is what the name refers to. Roots are lifted at the end of the season once they have thickened, washed free of the sandy soil they grow in, and dried whole. Older roots are the useful ones, because a first-year root is thin, mostly cortex, and yields little on milling. The dried root is greyish-brown outside with a paler, slightly fibrous interior and a faintly sweetish taste that turns bitter.

Also called

Punarnava, Spreading Hogweed, Mukaratte