# Damascus prunes (Prunus insititia)

**Prugne damaschine**

**Known today as.** Damson plums, *Prunus insititia*, dried.

Kind: Food & Drink

## What did Canale use it for?

In a purge for the melancholic humour.

## What does modern science say?

In a trial, more effective than psyllium for mild to moderate constipation.

## Pharmacognosy and toxicology

- **sorbitol**: draws water into the large intestine
- **fibre**: about 7 per cent of the weight
- **chlorogenic acid**: 

**Mechanism.** Sorbitol draws water into the large intestine, and the fibre may add bulk: the reference article credits the two together with the prune’s laxative effect. In a crossover trial prunes beat psyllium for constipation (Attaluri, 2011).

**Dose.** A food; the trial gave 50 g twice a day, and foods with sorbitol can upset the bowel.

**Standing.** A food with a controlled trial.

## What lore surrounds it?

The name traces to Damascus by way of the Latin *prunum damascenum*, though the classical *damascenum* was more like a sweet dessert plum than the modern damson, so the two share a name more than an identity. Damson stones have been found in an excavation at Hungate, York, dated to the late Anglo-Saxon period.

## What did the older authorities say?

**Pliny.** Names a plum of Syria, “There is a plum, too, which grows upon Mount Damascus,” since naturalized in Italy, and says of the Damascene plum, “so called from Damascus, in Syria,” that its stone is larger than usual and its flesh smaller, and that “this plum will never dry so far as to wrinkle; to effect that, it needs the sun of its own native country.”

## Sources

- “Damson” (reference article).
- Pliny the Elder, *Natural History* 13.10, 15.12, trans. J. Bostock & H. T. Riley (1855), Perseus Digital Library.
- “Prune.” *Wikipedia* (read 2 October 2026).
- “Sorbitol.” *Wikipedia* (read 2 October 2026).
- Canale, F. (1622). *Del modo di conoscer et sanare i maleficiati*. Brescia.
- “Chlorogenic acid.” *Wikipedia* (read 2 October 2026).
- Attaluri, A., et al. (2011). “Randomised clinical trial: dried plums (prunes) vs. psyllium for constipation.” *Alimentary Pharmacology and Therapeutics* 33.

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*Damascus prunes.* In *Materia Medica*, edited by B. C. P. Statema. Version 1, revised 2026-10-03. The Thinking Press. https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/damascus-prunes

Historical description, not medical advice.