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Psyllium
Plantago ovata · Plantaginaceae
Cooling mucilaginous seed husk, the premier Ayurvedic and clinical bulk laxative for constipation and gut comfort.
Plantago ovata is a small annual herb of the plantain family grown chiefly in the semi-arid tracts of Gujarat and Rajasthan, where India produces most of the world's psyllium. The seed's outer husk is rich in gel-forming soluble fibre that swells into a soft mucilaginous mass with water. In Ayurveda the seed (Ishabgola) is prized as a cooling (sheeta), unctuous (snigdha) bulk herb that moistens dry intestines and gently normalises bowel movement without griping or habituation.
Erect annual herb 10-45 cm tall with a rosette of narrowly linear leaves; dense ovoid cylindrical flower spikes 1-4 cm on slender stalks; tiny white-pinkish four-lobed flowers maturing into two-celled capsules that split at the top to release boat-shaped, oval, pinkish-brown glossy seeds 1.5-3 mm long with a concave white hilum; the husk layer turns gelatinous in water. Cultivated types are more robust than weedy forms.