Educational information, not medical advice — ask your doctor or midwife.
Behman Surkh is the dried red root of the plant Salvia haematodes, used as a single drug in Persian and Unani medicine. It is also called Red behen. Healers give it as a tonic for tiredness, weak nerves and a weak heart feeling.
It is a single drug, which means the root is used on its own rather than as a mixed formula. In practice it is often sold inside larger Unani blends as well.
Here is the honest verdict: we could find no human trials of this root. Its standing rests on hundreds of years of Unani use, and long use is not the same as proof that it works.
Nobody has shown how Behman Surkh works in the human body. The ideas below come from tradition and from early lab work, not from tests in people.
Unani teaching says the root is warm and dry. It is said to strengthen the heart, brain and nerves, and to lift a person who feels drained.
Lab studies on Salvia plants find compounds that mop up free radicals (unstable particles that can damage cells). That is a test-tube finding. It does not tell you what happens when you swallow the powder.
You will most often meet it as a coarse red-brown root powder.
Common forms: - Dried whole or cut root, simmered into a decoction (a strong water brew) - Root powder (safoof) taken with water, milk or honey - An ingredient in Unani syrups, pastes (majoon) and tonic blends - Capsules sold by herbal suppliers
One practical warning: the market name Behman Surkh is used loosely. Other red roots are sometimes sold under it. Buy only from a seller who prints the Latin name Salvia haematodes on the label.
Behman Surkh appears in Persian and Arabic medical writing from the medieval period and passed into Unani practice in South Asia. Classical authors paired it with Behman Safed, the white behen, as a matched pair of tonics. It has stayed in Unani dispensaries and pharmacopoeias into the present day.
See a doctor rather than reaching for this root if your heart races, flutters or pounds, if you have chest pain, or if you feel faint. Call for emergency help for chest pain that spreads to the arm, jaw or back.
Stop the root and see a doctor if you get a rash, swelling of the lips or face, trouble breathing, yellow skin or eyes, dark urine, or stomach pain that will not settle.
Also see a doctor if tiredness, low mood or weakness lasts more than a few weeks. These can be signs of a condition that needs a proper diagnosis.
Evidence grades and traditional-use labels are explained in our methodology. Nothing here is medical advice.
Reviewed by the HealisticMD editorial team How we grade evidence →
The published evidence for Behman Surkh is weak or absent. That usually means no controlled trial has tested it, not that a trial found it ineffective — the two are different, and we grade only what has been published.
What it is typically used for, usual dose, cautions, and the study behind it where real trial data exists.
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