# Ben-nut (Moringa oleifera)

**Balano mirepsica**

**Known today as.** Probably the seed of the horseradish tree, *Moringa oleifera* (or *M. peregrina*).

Kind: Plant

## What did Canale use it for?

Roasted, powdered, or baked in dough, as a vomit (ch. 5; note XXXV).

## What does modern science say?

The pressed oil, “oil of ben,” was prized by perfumers because it does not go rancid.

## Pharmacognosy and toxicology

- **oleic acid**: 70 per cent of the oil
- **behenic acid**: which named the oil
- **glucomoringin**: a glucosinolate that releases a mustard-oil isothiocyanate
- **moringine**: benzylamine

**Mechanism.** The seed of *Moringa oleifera*: its isothiocyanates irritate the gut, which is the vomit of Canale, and are antibacterial; the seed proteins flocculate dirty water, which is the seed’s real modern use; the oil is a stable emollient.

**Dose.** A few seeds purge and vomit; the leaf is eaten as a vegetable without harm.

**Standing.** The seed is a WHO-noted water clarifier; the leaf powder is sold as a supplement with small trials for blood sugar and lipids; no monograph.

## What did the older authorities say?

**Pliny.** Says the myrobalanum, found in the Thebais and the parts of Arabia between Judaea and Egypt, “is provided by Nature for unguents, as from its very name would appear,” being the nut of a tree with a leaf like the heliotropium and a fruit the size of a filbert, the Arabian kind white; it sold at two denarii the pound, and the unguent of bryon and oil of balanus was, he thinks, “the very first that was ever made.”

## Sources

- Pliny the Elder, *Natural History* 12.46–47, 13.2, trans. J. Bostock & H. T. Riley (1855), Perseus Digital Library.
- Anwar, F., et al. (2007). “*Moringa oleifera*: a food plant with multiple medicinal uses.” *Phytotherapy Research* 21.
- Ndabigengesere, A., et al. (1995). “Active agents and mechanism of coagulation of turbid waters using *Moringa oleifera*.” *Water Research* 29.

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*Ben-nut.* In *Materia Medica*, edited by B. C. P. Statema. Version 1, revised 2026-10-01. The Thinking Press. https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/ben-nut

Historical description, not medical advice.