Kamala

Confirmed or strongly suspected tapeworm, given as a single decisive dose to expel the worm rather than for chronic dosing

Obstinate ringworm or scabies where the fine red powder is dusted on or made into an ointment when gentler topical antifungals have failed

Obstinate ringworm or scabies where a topical astringent, drying paste is indicated

Circular scaly patches of ringworm on the trunk or groin in a damp, sweaty kapha patient

A sluggish ulcer with a foul discharge that needs a drying, antiseptic dressing

Overview. Kamala is the fine red glandular powder brushed from the ripe fruit capsules of Mallotus philippinensis, a small tree native to South and Southeast Asia and northern Australia. The powder has a long history in Ayurvedic medicine and was adopted by nineteenth century Eclectic physicians chiefly as a taeniafuge for expelling tapeworm and as a topical dressing for parasitic skin disease. It is a resinous, staining substance once also used as a dye, and the medicinal action and the dye action come from the same resin fraction.

Overview. Kamala is the fine red glandular powder brushed from the ripe fruit capsules of Mallotus philippensis, a small tree native to South and Southeast Asia, southern China, and parts of Australia. It has a long history in Ayurvedic and Unani medicine as a vermifuge and skin remedy, and it entered Western eclectic and official pharmacy in the nineteenth century as a taeniacide, being listed in the United States Pharmacopoeia under the name Rottlera. The powder, not a tincture of leaf or root, is the traditional preparation, taken internally for worms or applied externally for parasitic skin disease.

Overview. Kamala is the fine, brick-red glandular powder brushed from the ripe capsules of a small Euphorbiaceous tree native to India, southern China, and parts of Southeast Asia and northern Australia. It has long served two quite different purposes: taken internally it was prized across South and East Asia, and later in Europe, as a decisive vermifuge for tapeworm; applied externally as a paste or ointment it was used against scabies, ringworm, and other parasitic or scaling skin conditions. The physiomedicalist and Eclectic writers who took it up in the nineteenth century regarded it as a specific, single-dose tapeworm remedy imported from Eastern practice rather than a tonic herb for ongoing use.

Overview. Mallotus philippinensis is a small evergreen tree of the spurge family found throughout the outer Himalaya, the Deccan, the Eastern and Western Ghats and across Southeast Asia to the Philippines. Its ripe fruits are covered in a fine brick red powder of glandular hairs, brushed off and sold as kamala, which has been used for centuries as a dye for silk and as a medicine. In Ayurveda Kampillaka is the classical taenicide and a purgative, given internally for worms in carefully limited doses and applied externally for scabies, ringworm, wounds and itching skin.