Tabasheer

Tabasheer, also spelt tabachir or tabashir and called banslochan, is a translucent white substance composed mainly of silica and water with traces of lime and potash, obtained from the nodal joints of some species of bamboo. The page says it is part of the traditional Ayurvedic and Unani systems of medicine of the Indian subcontinent, and an ingredient in many traditional Iranian and Chinese medicines. It is claimed to be an antipyretic, antispasmodic, antiparalytic, restorative and aphrodisiac. Tabasheer with a bluish tint, called neel or neelkanth, is considered better than plain yellow or white. Not all bamboo stems contain it. Likely stems are found by shaking them, since the mineralised tabasheer inside rattles, and they are then split open to extract it. In Sanskrit it is tvaksheera, meaning bark milk, and it is also called bamboo sugar, bamboo camphor and bamboo manna.