Eden Apothecary · Herb Profile
Rubia cordifolia
Pronounced Manjistha: mun-JISH-tuh (Sanskrit Manjishtha, mun-JISH-thaa). Rubia cordifolia: ROO-bee-uh kor-dih-FOH-lee-uh. Qian Cao: chyen tsow.
Cool and drying: a bitter, astringent, blood-cooling depurative that moves stagnant blood and lymph, clears heat and damp-heat from the blood, brightens the complexion, and stanches heat-driven bleeding.
On temperature, the old sources disagree: Shennong Bencao Jing (c. 200 CE) reads it as cold; Bencao Gangmu (1596), Bhavaprakasha (16th c.) and Rajanighantu (c. 15th c.) read it as warm. The app keeps cool, the modern reading of what the herb does in the body; the old readings are shown here but do not change it.
Avoid. Manjistha is a traditional emmenagogue and blood-mover credited with promoting menstruation and moving stagnant uterine blood, actions that are theoretically abortifacient, and both classical and modern herbal sources advise against its use in pregnancy. Independently, the root's genotoxic and animal-carcinogenic anthraquinones (lucidin, rubiadin) make deliberate fetal exposure unjustifiable. Formal human reproductive-safety data are lacking; the sensible verdict, on both the uterine action and the genotoxicity, is avoidance. (Frawley and Lad, The Yoga of Herbs; Williamson, Major Herbs of Ayurveda; Bensky, Clavey and Stoger, Materia Medica, listing Qian Cao as contraindicated in pregnancy; Westendorf et al. on lucidin genotoxicity; IARC Monographs vol. 82 on Rubia and madder anthraquinones.)
Avoid; insufficient data. There are no lactation-safety studies for Rubia cordifolia, and the root's alizarin-type pigments are known to pass into milk and body fluids (madder famously colours the milk, urine, and bones of animals fed on it). Given genotoxic anthraquinones in the root and the absence of any margin-of-safety data for the nursing infant, avoid during breastfeeding and prefer better-characterised alternatives. (Comprehensive reviews note that clinical safety data for R. cordifolia are lacking; AHPA Botanical Safety Handbook approach for genotoxic-anthraquinone botanicals.)
Not recommended for internal use in infants and young children, and for older children only under qualified supervision at low, short-course doses. The rationale is the genotoxic and animal-carcinogenic anthraquinone content and the complete absence of pediatric safety data, not acute toxicity at ordinary doses. Brief topical use of the powder or paste on the skin is the gentler traditional pediatric application.
Manjistha belongs to the madder genus, whose roots contain anthraquinones, and several of these, notably lucidin and rubiadin, are genotoxic and, in animal studies, carcinogenic. The root of the closely related dyer's madder (Rubia tinctorum) was withdrawn as a herbal medicine and food colour in Germany and the wider EU over kidney and liver carcinogenicity from these same compounds, which Rubia cordifolia shares. For that reason avoid high doses and prolonged, continuous internal use; favour short, intermittent courses, defined pharmacopoeial products, and water-based preparations, since the genotoxic aglycones are enriched in alcoholic extracts. Expect a harmless red-orange discoloration of the urine (the alizarin-type pigments also deposit transiently in bone), which is benign but can alarm. Being blood-moving and mildly hypotensive, it warrants care with bleeding tendencies, anticoagulant therapy, and low blood pressure, and caution in anyone with a history of kidney disease or stones.
Pregnancy and lactation. Prolonged or high-dose internal use (genotoxic anthraquinones). Known bleeding disorder or concurrent anticoagulant or antiplatelet therapy without supervision. Cold, deficient, or fluid-dry constitutions, and Spleen/Stomach deficiency-cold (Ayurveda and TCM). Caution in chronic kidney disease and in hypotension.
Rubia cordifolia is a widespread, weedy climbing perennial across the Himalayas, India, China, Sri Lanka, Africa, and beyond, and it is not globally threatened, though heavy wild-collection for the dye and herb trade pressures local populations, and root harvest kills the plant. Prefer cultivated or responsibly wild-harvested root; the plant is readily cultivated. Not listed by United Plant Savers, whose registry covers North American natives, whereas Manjistha is an Old World species.
Not named in the canonical biblical texts (the Bible's scarlet and crimson, tola'ath shani, come from the kermes insect dye, not from madder). Madder of the Rubia genus was, however, well known to the ancient Mediterranean: Dioscorides (De Materia Medica III) describes ereuthedanon / madder as diuretic and emmenagogue and a remedy for jaundice and sciatica, and Pliny notes its dyeing and medicinal use. Rubia cordifolia itself, the Indian madder, is native to Asia and Africa, and its principal documented tradition is Ayurvedic (Charaka, Sushruta, and the nighantus, as Manjishtha) and Chinese (as Qian Cao).
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