Photo: Geethaka99, CC BY-SA 4.0 (via Wikimedia Commons)
Guggul
Commiphora mukul
Also known as Guggulu, Indian Bdellium, Gum Guggul, Mukul Myrrh, Guggal
Key benefits
✦Traditional uses
✦Guggul has been burned, ground, and prepared in Ayurvedic medicine for more than three thousand years, its resin described in ancient texts like the Sushruta Samhita as a remedy for stiff and aching joints. Tappers score the bark of the small desert tree and collect the fragrant, milky sap as it hardens into golden brown tears, a resin so central to Indian herbal tradition that it lent its name, guggulu, to an entire family of classical formulations. It was traditionally carried along the same ancient trade routes as its cousins frankincense and myrrh, valued equally as medicine, incense, and perfume. Physicians of old also turned to guggul to support a body carrying excess weight or feeling sluggish, treating it as a resin that helped things move again.
How to grow & use it
✦The full apothecary for Guggul
Traditional remedies and step-by-step preparations, a complete growing guide, and how to harvest, dry, and store it, all unlocked with HerbLens Unlimited.
- ✦Remedies & preparations
- ✦ Growing guide
- ✦Harvest & storage
From under $6 a month. Free plant identifications always included.
- ✦Turmeric
- ✦Boswellia (Indian frankincense)
- ✦Ashwagandha
- ✦Myrrh
- ✦Frankincense
“For the ache that settles into joints as the seasons turn, guggul is the old resin reached for.”
Guggul belongs to the very same plant family as frankincense and myrrh, and for centuries its resin traveled the same desert caravan routes, traded alongside them as a fragrant currency of its own.
Guggul has traditionally been avoided during pregnancy as a uterine stimulant, and it may affect thyroid hormone levels, so use caution with thyroid conditions or medication. It can also interact with blood thinners, hormonal medications, and diabetes medications, and poor-quality resin has a history of adulteration, so source matters.