Description

Psoralea corylifolia, known in Ayurveda as Bakuchi and in traditional Chinese medicine as Buguzhi, is an erect annual herb of the family Fabaceae, native to tropical and subtropical South and East Asia. It grows prolifically in sandy plains, fallow fields, and disturbed margins of dry deciduous woodland across Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and the Deccan Plateau. The small, dark, kidney-shaped seeds have been documented in the Charaka Samhita and Sushruta Samhita as primary components of preparations traditionally applied to skin conditions and pigmentation disorders. The seeds contain psoralen and bakuchiol — furocoumarins and terpenoids that have attracted substantial ethnobotanical and phytochemical research interest in recent decades.