# Marking-nut electuary (Semecarpus anacardium)

**Mel anacardinum**

**Known today as.** An electuary of the marking nut, *Semecarpus anacardium* (note XLIV).

Kind: Compound  
Toxic: yes

> **Caution.** 

## What did Canale use it for?

In the cockerel distillate (ch. 6).

## What does modern science say?

The nut yields a strongly vesicant oil that raises blisters. The oil of the pericarp holds bhilawanols, which are urushiols, and anacardic acid, and raises blisters on contact; the kernel within has no acrid properties, and the nut’s extracts have been tried for the nerves only in the laboratory and in animals.

## Pharmacognosy and toxicology

- **anacardic acids**: the phenolic resin of *Semecarpus anacardium*
- **bhilawanol**: a urushiol-like catechol, the blistering agent
- **honey**: 

**Mechanism.** The marking nut of India, whose juice stains linen and blisters skin by its urushiols, the bhilawanols: in Ayurveda (bhallataka) it is purified before internal use and given for nervous debility, rheumatism, epilepsy, and asthma, with laboratory and animal data for anti-inflammatory and memory-sparing actions, and human reports of contact dermatitis and of an idiosyncratic reaction to an oral formulation. Mel anacardinum, the honey of it, was Mesue’s medicine for the memory; the modern evidence for the nerves is still preclinical.

**Dose.** The raw nut blisters; Ayurveda gives it internally only after purification, whose aim is to reduce its toxicity, and the Muslim physicians held two dirhems a poisonous dose.

**Standing.** Used in Ayurveda after purification, and listed as a poisonous medicinal plant under India’s Drugs and Cosmetics Act of 1940; contact dermatitis and an idiosyncratic drug reaction have been reported.

## What lore surrounds it?

Mesue’s anacardine electuary was good for those who wished to be learned, for it sharpened the intellect and made a good memory. In India the blistering juice was used to fake a bruise in support of a false charge, and by malingerers to raise eruptions of the skin.

## What did the older authorities say?

**The Arab physicians.** Mesue gives an anacardine electuary for those who wish to become learned, since it sharpens the intellect and makes a good memory. The Muslim physicians, Dymock reports, held the nut hot and dry and gave its juice, always mixed with oil or butter, in diseases of the skin, palsy, epilepsy, and other affections of the nerves; it is the *anacardia* of Serapion.

**The Indian tradition.** The nut, *bhallātaka*, is in the Ayurvedic texts for the nerves and the skin, and its juice, mixed with a little quicklime, is used all over India to mark linen.

## Sources

- Mesue, *Grabadin*.
- Dymock, W., et al. (1890). *Pharmacographia Indica*.
- Ilanchezhian, R., Joseph, C. R., & Acharya, R. (2012). Urushiol-induced contact dermatitis caused during Shodhana (purificatory measures) of Bhallataka (*Semecarpus anacardium* Linn.) fruit. *Ayu* 33: 270–273.
- Ilanchezhian, R., Joseph, C. R., & Acharya, R. (2010). Importance of media in Shodhana (purification/processing) of poisonous herbal drugs. *Ancient Science of Life* 30: 54–57.
- Rastogi, S., & Pandey, P. (2022). Idiosyncratic adversity reported after oral consumption of an ayurvedic formulation containing bhallataka (*Semecarpus anacardium*): a case report. *Journal of Ayurveda and Integrative Medicine* 13: 100635.
- Ram Kumar Pandian, S., et al. (2026). Unlocking the neuroprotective potential of *Semecarpus anacardium* L.: an updated review. *Antioxidants* 15: 660. doi:10.3390/antiox15060660
- Semalty, M., et al. (2010). “*Semecarpus anacardium* Linn.: a review.” *Pharmacognosy Reviews* 4.

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

Historical description, not medical advice.