# Tamarind (Tamarindus indica)

*Arabic *tamr hindī*, “Indian date”*

**Known today as.** The pod pulp of *Tamarindus indica*.

Kind: Plant

## What was it used for?

A cooling, gentle purge for choleric fevers, in the lenitive electuaries.

## What does modern science say?

A mild laxative food. The pulp is rich in tartaric acid and in pectin, and is a mild laxative food; it has no European herbal monograph, and its seed is the source of the food thickener tamarind gum.

## Pharmacognosy and toxicology

- **tartaric acid**: 8–18 per cent of the pulp, the sour
- **invert sugar**: 
- **pectin and fibre**: 
- **potassium bitartrate**: 

**Mechanism.** The pulp’s fibre, sugars, and acid salts hold water in the bowel, a gentle osmotic and bulk laxative, which with its sourness made it the “cooling” purge for fevers; no drug action beyond.

**Dose.** A food; 10–50 g of pulp moves the bowel.

**Standing.** A food of the tropics; in the lenitive electuary of the London Pharmacopoeia; the seed gum is a food thickener.

## What lore surrounds it?

In India the tree is said to be haunted and its shade unwholesome, so that no one sleeps beneath it; its pulp sours the curries of the south and the chutneys of the north, and Worcestershire sauce.

## What did the older authorities say?

**The Arab physicians.** Brought it from India to the Mediterranean pharmacy as *tamr hindī*, the Indian date, a cooling laxative for bilious fevers and thirst, and Mesue gives it in the lenitive electuaries where Canale found it.

**Garcia de Orta.** Describes the tree and the trade in his *Colloquies* of 1563 from Goa, and corrects the Europeans who thought the fruit a kind of date.

## Sources

- Culpeper, N. (1653). *Pharmacopœia Londinensis*.
- Garcia de Orta (1563). *Colóquios dos simples e drogas da Índia*.
- Bhadoriya, S. S., et al. (2011). “*Tamarindus indica*: extent of explored potential.” *Pharmacognosy Reviews* 5.

---

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

Historical description, not medical advice.