Eden Apothecary · Herb Profile
Saraca asoca
Pronounced Ashoka: uh-SHOH-kuh. Saraca asoca: suh-RAH-kuh uh-SOH-kuh.
Cold, dry, and astringent: the woman's bark that reins in a hot, flooding uterus and tones lax, bleeding tissue back to firmness.
Contraindicated in pregnancy. Animal and in vitro studies document oxytocic/uterotonic activity together with anti-implantation, anti-progestational, and anti-estrogenic effects, so use may threaten implantation and pregnancy maintenance. Ashoka is not covered by NCCIH or the AHPA Botanical Safety Handbook; avoid throughout pregnancy.
Insufficient data. No lactation-specific safety or milk-excretion studies, and the herb is not listed by NCCIH or the AHPA Botanical Safety Handbook. Avoid while breastfeeding unless supervised by a qualified practitioner.
Insufficient data. Traditionally an adult women's-health remedy with no established pediatric safety or dosing. Avoid in children.
Astringent, cold, and drying: excess or prolonged use can cause constipation, dryness, and cold-type digestive sluggishness, especially in Vata-predominant or already cold/dry people. Worsens scanty or absent menses (amenorrhea) and suppressed flow. Commercial bark is frequently adulterated with Polyalthia longifolia (false ashoka) and other barks, so use authenticated material. Heavy menstrual bleeding needs a diagnosis before self-treatment.
Pregnancy. Amenorrhea and scanty/suppressed menses. Cold, dry, depleted (Vata) constitutions and cold-deficient (Kidney Yang deficiency) patterns. Blood stasis with clotting and fixed pain, where stopping bleeding may trap the stasis. Undiagnosed abnormal uterine bleeding or any postmenopausal bleeding (refer for workup first).
At risk. Bark harvest is destructive to the tree, and Saraca asoca is IUCN-assessed as threatened (historically Vulnerable A2cd; reassessed Near Threatened in 2025) and locally endangered across parts of India from bark overexploitation and habitat loss. Wild-sourced bark is heavily adulterated, notably with Polyalthia longifolia (false ashoka). Source only cultivated or verified sustainably harvested, authenticated bark; avoid wild-collected material.
Not in canonical biblical texts. Indigenous to the Indian subcontinent and sacred in Hindu and Buddhist tradition; the Sanskrit name Ashoka means 'without sorrow' (a-shoka). It appears in the Ramayana as the tree of the Ashoka grove (Ashoka Vatika) where Sita was held captive, and is described in classical Ayurvedic nighantus such as the Bhavaprakasha.
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