# Tribulus (Tribulus terrestris) *Sanskrit *gokshura*, cow’s hoof, and *kshugandha*; Arabic and Persian *khasak* or *hasak*; the Greek *tribolos* of Dioscorides and the *tribulus* of Pliny; *Tribulus terrestris* of Linnaeus* **Known today as.** *Tribulus terrestris*, a plant of the family Zygophyllaceae whose four or five delicate, hairy stalks spread flat on the ground up to two and a half feet, with pinnate leaves of five or six pairs of nearly round leaflets and small yellow five-petalled flowers, from a slender, light-brown, faintly aromatic root. Its fruit is made up of cocci. Kind: Plant > **Caution.** LiverTox finds that tribulus extracts “have not been linked convincingly to instances of clinically apparent liver injury when given in typical doses in humans,” though isolated reports of kidney injury exist. The plant itself, it notes, is toxic to grazing animals and causes a distinctive liver injury in sheep, known as ‘geeldikkop.’ No European monograph sets out its safety. ## What was it used for? A cooling diuretic and a tonic in Indian medicine. Dymock, Warden, and Hooper wrote that the Hindus used the fruit and root, regarding them as cooling, diuretic, tonic, and aphrodisiac, for gonorrhoea and painful urination, and that the root was one of the ten drugs of the *dasamula kvatha*, a compound decoction often named in Sanskrit works. Its action on the urinary passages, they judged, closely resembled that of buchu and uva ursi. ## What does modern science say? The European Medicines Agency’s herbal committee adopted no monograph for the herb. The only preparation on the European market, a methanol extract standardised to furostanol saponins and approved in Bulgaria since 1981, it judged “specific and therefore not appropriate” to support a traditional-use monograph, and found that “data supporting an acceptable level of safety and a recognized efficacy are not available as published data” (public statement of 2024). Its assessment report names steroidal saponins, protodioscin among them, as the constituents of interest. The trials of its modern use, for male sexual function, disagree: a 2026 meta-analysis found erectile function scores improved over placebo, while a 2025 review judged the evidence for erectile function low and found “no robust evidence” that it raises testosterone. ## Pharmacognosy and toxicology - **protodioscin**: among the steroidal saponins, the constituents of interest - **furostanol saponins**: to which the one marketed extract is standardised **Mechanism.** Not established in the sources read for this entry. **Standing.** There is no European monograph: the European Medicines Agency’s herbal committee adopted none (public statement of 2024). Meta-analyses (2025, 2026) disagree on erectile function; no robust evidence that it raises testosterone. ## What lore surrounds it? In the *dasamula* of the Sanskrit books, ten roots boiled together, tribulus stands among the five minor plants, alongside desmodium and two species of *Solanum*; Loureiro, Dymock adds, thought it astringent, and in one Indian district its flowers rubbed with silver were applied to inflammation of the cornea. ## What did the older authorities say? **Dymock, Warden, and Hooper, *Pharmacographia Indica*.** The Sanskrit *gokshura*, they explain, means “cow’s hoof,” from the likeness of the fruit’s cocci, when they hold together in pairs, to a cloven hoof, and *kshugandha* alludes to the plant’s scent. They quote Ainslie that it grows commonly near the Dardanelles and that “Dioscorides calls it” *tribolos* and Pliny *tribulus*, both describing a land kind and a water kind, the latter the water chestnut. ## Sources - Dymock, W., Warden, C. J. H., & Hooper, D. (1890). *Pharmacographia Indica*, vol. 1, “Tribulus terrestris.” Internet Archive, b2129737x_0001. - European Medicines Agency, Committee on Herbal Medicinal Products. *Public statement on Tribuli terrestris herba (Tribulus herb)*. EMA/HMPC/308436/2023, 20 November 2024. - European Medicines Agency, Committee on Herbal Medicinal Products. *Assessment report on Tribuli terrestris herba*. EMA/HMPC/886105/2022, 20 November 2024. - Suharyani S, et al. (2026). Tribulus terrestris for management of patients with erectile dysfunction: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized trials. *International journal of impotence research*. PMID 40360723. - Vilar Neto JO, et al. (2025). Effects of Tribulus (Tribulus terrestris L.) Supplementation on Erectile Dysfunction and Testosterone Levels in Men-A Systematic Review of Clinical Trials. *Nutrients*. PMID 40219032. - LiverTox: Clinical and Research Information on Drug-Induced Liver Injury, “Tribulus.” National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, updated 2022. NCBI Bookshelf. - European Medicines Agency, Committee on Herbal Medicinal Products. *Public statement on Tribuli terrestris herba (Tribulus herb)*. EMA/HMPC/308436/2023, 20 November 2024. - European Medicines Agency, Committee on Herbal Medicinal Products. *Assessment report on Tribuli terrestris herba*. EMA/HMPC/886105/2022, 20 November 2024. - Suharyani S, et al. (2026). Tribulus terrestris for management of patients with erectile dysfunction: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized trials. *International journal of impotence research*. PMID 40360723. - Vilar Neto JO, et al. (2025). Effects of Tribulus (Tribulus terrestris L.) Supplementation on Erectile Dysfunction and Testosterone Levels in Men-A Systematic Review of Clinical Trials. *Nutrients*. PMID 40219032. - LiverTox: Clinical and Research Information on Drug-Induced Liver Injury, “Tribulus.” National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, updated 2022. NCBI Bookshelf. --- *Tribulus.* In *Materia Medica*, edited by B. C. P. Statema. Version 1, revised 2026-10-16. The Thinking Press. https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/tribulus Historical description, not medical advice.