''Commiphora wightii'', with common names Indian bdellium-tree, gugal, guggul, gugul, or mukul myrrh tree, is a

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants th ...

in the family

Burseraceae The Burseraceae are a moderate-sized family of 17-19 genera and about 540 species of flowering plants. The actual numbers differ according to the time period in which a given source is written describing this family. The Burseraceae are also kno ...

, which produces a fragrant resin called gugal, guggul or gugul, that is used in

incense Incense is aromatic biotic material that releases fragrant smoke when burnt. The term is used for either the material or the aroma. Incense is used for aesthetic reasons, religious worship, aromatherapy, meditation, and ceremony. It may also b ...

and vedic medicine (or

ayurveda Ayurveda () is an alternative medicine system with historical roots in the Indian subcontinent. The theory and practice of Ayurveda is pseudoscientific. Ayurveda is heavily practiced in India and Nepal, where around 80% of the population rep ...

). The species is native to southern Pakistan and western India. It prefers

arid A region is arid when it severely lacks available water, to the extent of hindering or preventing the growth and development of plant and animal life. Regions with arid climates tend to lack vegetation and are called xeric or desertic. Most ...

and

semi-arid A semi-arid climate, semi-desert climate, or steppe climate is a dry climate sub-type. It is located on regions that receive precipitation below potential evapotranspiration, but not as low as a desert climate. There are different kinds of semi- ...

climates and is tolerant of poor soil.

Description

''Commiphora wightii'' grows as a shrub or small

tree In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, including only woody plants with secondary growth, plants that are ...

, reaching a maximum height of , with thin papery bark. The branches are thorny. The leaves are simple or trifoliate, the leaflets ovate, long, broad, and irregularly toothed. It is

gynodioecious Gynodioecy is a rare breeding system that is found in certain flowering plant species in which female and hermaphroditic plants coexist within a population. Gynodioecy is the evolutionary intermediate between hermaphroditism (exhibiting both fema ...

, with some plants bearing bisexual and male

flower A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants (plants of the division Angiospermae). The biological function of a flower is to facilitate reproduction, usually by providing a mechani ...

s, and others with female flowers. The individual flowers are red to pink, with four small petals. The small round fruit are red when ripe.

Cultivation and uses

''Commiphora wightii'' is sought for its gummy

resin In polymer chemistry and materials science, resin is a solid or highly viscous substance of plant or synthetic origin that is typically convertible into polymers. Resins are usually mixtures of organic compounds. This article focuses on n ...

, which is harvested from the plant's bark through the process of

tapping Tapping is a playing technique that can be used on any stringed instrument, but which is most commonly used on guitar. The technique involves a string being fretted and set into vibration as part of a single motion. This is in contrast to stand ...

. In

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

and

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...

, guggul is cultivated commercially. The resin of ''C. wightii'', known as ''gum guggulu'', has a

fragrance An aroma compound, also known as an odorant, aroma, fragrance or flavoring, is a chemical compound that has a smell or odor. For an individual chemical or class of chemical compounds to impart a smell or fragrance, it must be sufficiently ...

similar to that of myrrh and is commonly used in

and

perfumes Perfume (, ; french: parfum) is a mixture of fragrant essential oils or aroma compounds (fragrances), fixatives and solvents, usually in liquid form, used to give the human body, animals, food, objects, and living-spaces an agreeable scent. T ...

. It is the same product that was known in

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic p ...

and

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

sources as

bdellium Bdellium (also bdellion or false myrrh) is a semi-transparent oleo-gum resin extracted from ''Commiphora wightii'' plants of India, and from '' Commiphora africana'' trees growing in sub-saharan Africa. According to Pliny the best quality came f ...

. Guggul is used in

Ayurveda Ayurveda () is an alternative medicine system with historical roots in the Indian subcontinent. The theory and practice of Ayurveda is pseudoscientific. Ayurveda is heavily practiced in India and Nepal, where around 80% of the population rep ...

remedies and it is mentioned in Ayurvedic texts dating back to 600 BC. It is often sold as a herbal supplement. The gum can be purchased in a loosely packed form called ''dhoop'', an incense from India, which is burned over hot coals. This produces a fragrant, dense smoke. It is also sold in the form of incense sticks and dhoop cones which can be burned directly.

Chemical composition

Over a hundred metabolites of various chemical compositions were reported from the leaves, stem, latex, root and fruit samples. High concentrations of

quinic acid Quinic acid is a cyclitol, a cyclic polyol, and a cyclohexanecarboxylic acid. It is a colorless solid that can be extracted from plant sources. Quinic acid is implicated in the perceived acidity of coffee. Occurrence and preparation The compound ...

and

myo-inositol Inositol, or more precisely ''myo''-inositol, is a carbocyclic sugar that is abundant in the brain and other mammalian tissues; it mediates cell signal transduction in response to a variety of hormones, neurotransmitters, and growth factors and ...

were found in fruits and leaves.

Traditional medicinal use

''Commiphora wightii'' has been a key component in ancient Indian Ayurvedic system of medicine. Guggulsterone E

The extract of gum guggul, called gugulipid, guggulipid, or guglipid, has been used in

Unani Unani or Yunani medicine (Urdu: ''tibb yūnānī'') is Perso-Arabic traditional medicine as practiced in Muslim culture in South Asia and modern day Central Asia. Unani medicine is pseudoscientific. The Indian Medical Association describes U ...

and Ayurvedic medicine, for nearly 3,000 years in India. One chemical ingredient in the extract is the steroid guggulsterone, which acts as an antagonist of the farnesoid X receptor, once believed to result in decreased

cholesterol Cholesterol is any of a class of certain organic molecules called lipids. It is a sterol (or modified steroid), a type of lipid. Cholesterol is biosynthesized by all animal cells and is an essential structural component of animal cell mem ...

synthesis in the

liver The liver is a major organ only found in vertebrates which performs many essential biological functions such as detoxification of the organism, and the synthesis of proteins and biochemicals necessary for digestion and growth. In humans, it ...

. However, several studies have been published that indicate no overall reduction in total cholesterol occurs using various dosages of guggulsterone and levels of

low-density lipoprotein Low-density lipoprotein (LDL) is one of the five major groups of lipoprotein that transport all fat molecules around the body in extracellular water. These groups, from least dense to most dense, are chylomicrons (aka ULDL by the overall dens ...

("bad cholesterol") increased in many people.

Endangerment and rescue

Because of its use in traditional medicine, ''C. wightii'' has been overharvested, and has become so scarce in its two habitats in India—

Gujarat Gujarat (, ) is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some ; and the ninth ...

and

Rajasthan Rajasthan (; lit. 'Land of Kings') is a state in northern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the largest Indian state by area and the seventh largest by population. It is on India's northwestern s ...

—that the

World Conservation Union The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...

(IUCN) has enlisted it in its

IUCN Red List The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biol ...

of threatened species. Several efforts are in place to address this situation. India's National Medicinal Plants Board launched a project in Kutch District to cultivate of guggal, while a

grass-roots A grassroots movement is one that uses the people in a given district, region or community as the basis for a political or economic movement. Grassroots movements and organizations use collective action from the local level to effect change at t ...

conservation movement, led by IUCN associate

Vineet Soni Vineet, alternatively Vineeth, is an Indian name. Notable people with the name include: Vineet * Vineet Alurkar, Indian musician * Vineet M. Arora, American medical researcher * Vineet Jain, Indian businessman, managing director of Bennett, Colema ...

, has been started to educate guggal growers and harvesters in safe, sustainable harvesting methods.

References

External links

*Bjerklie, David (August 25, 2003)
"What's Gugul Good For?"
''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, ...

''.
Flora of Pakistan: ''Commiphora wightii''Medicinal Plants of Conservation Concern: ''Commiphora wightii''
* Contains a detailed monograph on ''Commiphora mukul'' (Guggulu) as well as a discussion of purported health benefits and usage in clinical practice. *, pp. 226–227 {{Taxonbar, from=Q901803 wightii Flora of India (region) Flora of Pakistan Incense material Plants used in Ayurveda