Compendium

Guggul is the fragrant gum resin of Commiphora wightii, the Indian bdellium tree, a thorny shrub or small tree of the Burseraceae family that reaches about four metres, with thin papery bark, small toothed leaves of one or three leaflets, small red to pink flowers and round fruit that turn red when ripe. It is native to western India, has been carried west to southern Pakistan and the Middle East, and favours arid and semi-arid country with poor soil. The resin is gathered by tapping the bark, and the tree is grown commercially in India and Pakistan. Its scent is very close to that of myrrh, and it is taken to be the bdellium of Hebrew, Greek and Latin writers, long used in incense and perfume. Grieve, writing in 1931, describes commercial gugul as moist, dark reddish-brown lumps that soften in the warmth of the hand, stick to the teeth when chewed and smell faintly of myrrh, and says it was used in the East Indies against leprosy and rheumatism and in Europe for plasters. In India it is burned over hot coals as loose dhoop or as sticks and cones. Ayurvedic texts said to date to 600 BC mention it, and an extract, guggulipid, is sold as a supplement, though several studies found it did not lower total cholesterol. Overharvesting for medicine has made the tree so scarce in Gujarat and Rajasthan that the IUCN lists it as critically endangered.