Bhumyamalaki

TRADITIONAL VIEW, WITH SAFETY LIMITS

Hindi name: Bhui amla

What the texts say Bhumyamalaki does

• Kamalahara — used in jaundice (kamala)
• Deepana — kindles digestion (appetiser)
• Mutrala — diuretic
• Jwaraghna — used in fever
• Raktashodhana — purifies the blood
• Dahaprashamana — relieves burning

What the evidence says. Traditional use is extensive and long recorded. Modern clinical evidence is limited.

Side effects and limits

• Digestive upset
• Low blood sugar in those already on medication for it

Avoid or ask first: Pregnancy.; The period immediately before and after surgery, given the blood sugar and blood pressure effects.

A traditional classification, not a recommendation. The full safety record is below.

AS THE CLASSICAL TEXTS AND THE API PRESCRIBE

The classical kamala drug. Confirm the species — Phyllanthus amarus is what Indian material usually is.

Reported from Sharangadhara Samhita and the Ayurvedic Pharmacopoeia of India. Laisha states what the texts prescribe; it does not recommend. No quantity here is adjusted for a particular person — not for agni, koshtha, bala, age, pregnancy, kidney or liver function, or anything already being taken.

Tikta and kashaya with madhura, sheeta virya and madhura vipaka.

These are the actions the classical texts record. They are statements about what the tradition holds, and this library does not restate them as findings about a human body.

Bhumyamalaki means earth-amalaki: the leaflets look like a small amalaki branch lying on the ground. Bahupatra, many-leaved, names the same feature. It is one of the easiest identifications in the materia medica.

Rasa, guna, virya, vipaka and karma are recorded as the classical texts give them, with the text and section named so a student can open the book and check. Where an exact chapter and verse could not be confirmed, this library names the section rather than inventing a number.

Four Phyllanthus species are sold under this name and even botanists need a hand lens to separate them — the difference is in whether the flowers sit under the leaflets or beside them, and in the seed markings. Because the species differ in their lignan content, a study of one is not a study of another, and neither is a purchase.

Matched live against the GBIF backbone on 28 September 2026 at 99 per cent confidence. Phyllanthus amarus, Phyllanthus fraternus and Phyllanthus urinaria are all traded under the same name and are genuinely difficult to separate in the field; that is set out below.

A WAY TO REMEMBER IT

Phyllanthus again — leaf-flower. Niruri is from the Tamil-Malayalam name. Bhumi-amalaki: the amalaki of the ground, because the fruit looks like a tiny amalaki set along the underside of the branch.

Bhumyamalaki is described in the Bhavaprakasha Nighantu and is recorded there for use where there is jaundice. That is what the tradition holds and where it is written down, not a finding about what the herb does in a body.

Constituents. The herb carries lignans including phyllanthin and hypophyllanthin, along with tannins and alkaloids. Content differs substantially between the four species traded under the name.

• This is a study and clinical reference for practitioners and students. The matra and anupana it records are what the classical texts and the Ayurvedic Pharmacopoeia of India PRESCRIBE — Laisha reports them, it does not recommend them. They are not a prescription for any particular person, and they are not adjusted for your age, agni, koshtha, bala, pregnancy, kidney or liver function, or anything else you are already taking. Only a qualified practitioner who has examined you can do that.
• Traditional classification is recorded as what the classical texts say, with the text and the place in it named so it can be checked. It is not restated as a finding about a human body.
• Nothing here replaces a qualified Ayurvedic practitioner or a doctor.