Educational information, not medical advice — ask your doctor or midwife.
Albizia lebbeck is a large tree in the pea and bean family. It is known as siris, lebbeck or woman's tongue tree. In Ayurveda it is called shirisha, and the bark is the part most used.
Tree, grows across South Asia, parts of Africa, and northern Australia. Today it is sold mostly as a bark powder or capsule for allergy symptoms. Hay fever, itchy skin and wheeze are the common reasons people try it.
Here is the honest verdict. Almost all the research sits in test tubes and animals. Human trials are few, small and weak, so we cannot say it works.
Long use in a tradition is not proof of effect, and it is not proof of safety either.
Nobody has shown how it works in people, because the human studies needed for that have not been done.
The main idea comes from animal work. In rodents and guinea pigs, bark extracts appear to calm mast cells (immune cells that release histamine). Histamine is the chemical that drives sneezing, itching and swelling in allergy.
Other lab findings often quoted:
In animal airway tissue, extracts appear to relax the tubes that carry air to the lungs. In rodents, extracts seem to reduce swelling and ease the response to things that trigger allergy.
In diabetic rats, some extracts lowered blood sugar and blood fats. Whether any of this happens in a person who swallows a capsule is simply not known.
The plant is rich in saponins. These are soap-like plant chemicals that froth in water.
In test tubes they act on cell membranes, which may explain some of the lab results. It may also explain why large amounts can upset the stomach.
You will mainly meet it as dried bark.
Common forms:
Loose bark powder, sold by weight.
Capsules or tablets of powdered bark.
Liquid extracts and tinctures in alcohol.
A water decoction, which is bark simmered in water, used in classical Ayurvedic practice.
It also appears inside mixed Ayurvedic formulas aimed at allergy and skin. In those blends the amount of Albizia is often small and not stated.
The flowers and seeds are used in some folk settings. These are far less common in products sold to the public. The wood is a timber, and the leaves are fed to livestock, but neither is a remedy form.
The tree holds a long and well recorded place in Ayurveda, under the name shirisha.
Classical Indian texts listed it as vishaghna, meaning a remedy used against poisons and bites. Practitioners also used the bark for skin disease, itching, cough and breathing trouble. Decoctions and pastes were the usual forms.
Folk use was recorded in parts of Africa and Southeast Asia too. There the bark was used for wounds, loose bowels and eye complaints.
These records tell us what people did. They do not tell us whether it helped, and they are not a reason to treat yourself.
Stop and get urgent help if you get swelling of the lips, face or tongue, a spreading rash, or trouble breathing.
Go to hospital or call emergency services for a severe asthma attack, a snakebite or any suspected poisoning.
See your doctor soon if you notice:
Your asthma or allergy symptoms getting worse, or you need your reliever inhaler more often.
Shaking, sweating, confusion or faintness, which can signal low blood sugar.
Stomach pain, vomiting or loose stools that do not settle within a few days.
Yellow skin or eyes, dark urine, or lasting tiredness.
In the United States it is sold as a dietary supplement, and it is not approved to treat or prevent any disease. In India it is a named Ayurvedic drug with an entry in the Ayurvedic Pharmacopoeia. In the UK, EU, Canada and Australia there is no licensed medicine containing it, and products are sold as supplements.
Evidence grades and traditional-use labels are explained in our methodology. Nothing here is medical advice.
What it is typically used for, usual dose, cautions, and the study behind it where real trial data exists.
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