Educational information, not medical advice — ask your doctor or midwife.
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Gundrā is the Ayurvedic name for the cat-tail or bulrush plant, Typha angustata, a tall marsh reed with a brown, sausage-shaped flower spike. Ayurvedic practice uses the rhizome (the underground stem), the soft inner stalk and the yellow pollen from the flower spike.
It is classed in Ayurveda as a cooling, soothing drug. It is used mainly for bleeding problems such as heavy periods, blood in the urine or piles, and for burning when you pass urine. It is also applied to minor wounds and used as a demulcent (a substance that coats and soothes irritated tissue).
Here is the honest verdict up front: Gundrā has a long record in Ayurvedic texts, but we could not find published human trials testing it. Traditional use tells you what healers have done for a long time. It does not by itself prove that a remedy works, and that distinction applies to everything on this page.
No one has shown in people how Gundrā works, so what follows is theory rather than proven fact.
Ayurveda describes Gundrā as sheeta (cooling), madhura (sweet in taste) and stambhana (holding back or checking flow). On that model it is used to calm heat and to slow bleeding from the urinary tract, gut or womb.
Laboratory work on Typha species points to tannins and flavonoids, plant compounds that bind and tighten tissue surfaces. In a test tube these can shrink small blood vessels and reduce oozing, which may be why traditional healers dusted the pollen on cuts.
Curiously, the same plant material has also shown the opposite effect in lab studies: some Typha pollen extracts slow platelets, the blood cells that form clots. That is a reason for caution rather than a claim, and it is why people on blood thinners are asked to stay away.
Gundrā reaches you in a few plain forms.
- Dried rhizome powder (churna), the most common Ayurvedic form - Fresh rhizome juice (swarasa), used in classical practice - A water decoction (kwatha) made by simmering the chopped rhizome - Pollen collected from the flower spike, used dry as a dusting powder or taken internally - Small amounts inside compound Ayurvedic formulas for urinary complaints
Quality varies a lot. Marsh plants take up whatever is in the water and mud around them, including heavy metals, so buy only from a supplier who tests for contamination.
Gundrā appears in classical Ayurvedic materia medica among the trina (grass and reed) drugs, and is grouped with cooling remedies for raktapitta, an old term for bleeding disorders. Indian folk practice across wetland regions has used the rhizome as famine food as well as medicine.
Close relatives of the plant carry a parallel record elsewhere. Typha pollen, known as pu huang, is a well-known bleeding remedy in Chinese medicine, and North American peoples used cat-tail rhizome and pollen for food, burns and wounds.
So the plant is widely known and long used. What it lacks is modern testing in people.
See a doctor the same day if you have blood in your urine, bleeding from the back passage, bleeding that will not stop, or unusual bruising.
Get urgent help if you have burning urine along with fever, shivering or pain in your back or side, which can mean a kidney infection.
Call emergency services if you get swelling of the lips, tongue or throat, a widespread rash, wheezing or trouble breathing after taking or handling it.
Also book an appointment if periods are getting heavier, if you feel faint or breathless, or if any symptom has not improved after about two weeks.
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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