Over the course of its centuries-long history, the Turkmen people have accumulated and enriched a vast body of knowledge, passing it down from generation to generation. Elderly sages would share with their children and grandchildren insights into the healing properties of the many plants growing across Turkmenistan, and their descendants, in turn, actively introduce phytomedicine into modern, technologically advanced national clinics, using plants and plant-based remedies for treatment and prevention of a wide range of diseases.
Since ancient times, Turkmens have been aware of the healing properties of a plant commonly known as yuzarliq (yuzarlik). Its scientific name is Peganum harmala (Syrian rue). In some regions of the country, the word yuzarliq is interpreted as “capable of curing a hundred ailments,” although such meanings should be understood as rather free folk interpretations. Anyone who has spent even a short time in Turkmenistan is well familiar with this plant and has encountered its use in everyday life or in traditional medicine.
Peganum harmala is a perennial herbaceous plant, ranging in height from 20 to 80 centimeters and characterized by a strong and distinctive scent. Its flowers are pale yellow or white, while the fruit is a flattened, spherical, three-lobed capsule measuring 1–1.2 cm in diameter. The plant flowers and bears fruit between May and August. For medicinal use, its overground parts are harvested in April during the budding stage, before the flowers open.
Yuzarliq grows on saline clay soils rich in sodium, as well as on sandy terrain, near wells on desert pastures, along livestock paths and on rocky ground. It often forms dense thickets at elevations ranging from 450 to 2,800 meters above sea level. In Turkmenistan, it abundantly grows in the southwestern, central and eastern Kopetdag, as well as in Badkhyz and Koytendag.
The aura of mystery surrounding yuzarliq is closely connected to beliefs and traditions that intertwine with its sacred use among the Turkmens for treatment of various ailments. In the past, it was believed that yuzarliq protected homes and people from evil spirits and the “evil eye.” Even today, bundles of the dried herb, tied with traditional protective cords, can often be seen at the entrance to homes across Turkmenistan.
Small bunches of harmala are also placed in spaces where people seek to create and maintain an atmosphere of well-being, prosperity and health. Turkmens have a tradition of bathing a child forty days after birth in water containing a silver ornament or coin, along with a small amount of dried harmala.
Wedding rituals likewise traditionally included the use of yuzarliq. Before the bride enters the groom’s home, an elder woman burns the dried plant and circles the newlyweds three times with the fragrant smoke. It was believed that the thick smoke of harmala protects against misfortune. According to folk belief, jumping three times over a “purifying fire” made from yuzarliq could cure a variety of illnesses. Shepherds would also drive their flocks between two such fires when moving to new pastures, after which they would take their most essential belongings through the smoke.
Traditional Turkmen healers store not only the plant itself but also its oil, using an unusual method. In spring, they cover a harmala bush with an old, cracked cauldron. After about a month, the cauldron is removed, and a layer of oily substance is scraped from its inner surface – an effective plant extract.
The healing properties of yuzarliq have been known since antiquity. The plant is mentioned in the Avesta – the sacred text of Zoroastrianism – as a calming and disinfecting agent. Avicenna also wrote about harmala in his renowned Canon of Medicine, prescribing it for joint pain, inflammation of the sciatic nerve, urinary disorders and colitis. In the Middle Ages, the plant was an important component of many medicinal elixirs.
In his book “Plants and Animals in the Legends and Beliefs of the Turkmens”, famous Turkmen ethnographer Sergey Demidov also describes the use of yuzarliq in folk medicine and ritual practices, including its role as a “stuffing” for traditional amulet pouches and in the making of prayer beads from its dried seeds strung on a strong, durable thread.
Since ancient times, fumigating with yuzarliq has been used to purify the air and eliminate microbes in spaces where people suffering from infectious diseases are present. The dried upper parts of the plant, bearing seed capsules, are used for this purpose. The smoke of harmala does not irritate the eyes and has a calming effect.
Modern scientific studies have shown that the aroma of yuzarliq repels and kills insects and bacteria and even drives away snakes. The alkaloids contained in Peganum harmala make it effective in protecting crops against pests and in safeguarding livestock against skin diseases and parasites.
In traditional medicine, baths prepared with harmala are used against scabies and other skin conditions. Decoctions are used for treating colds, malaria, neurasthenia and digestive disorders, as well as for wound healing and against convulsions. A decoction of its seeds is helpful in cases of asthma and shortness of breath, and when combined with chili pepper, it is used for rheumatism. It also serves as a sedative, choleretic, diuretic and diaphoretic remedy. Herbal infusions are consumed for kidney ailments, used as mouth rinses for gum disease and applied externally for eye diseases.
How is harmala used in modern medicine? Nowadays, it is used for many purposes. Doctors are well aware that yuzarliq is a sedative plant. The alkaloid harmine, contained in the plant, is used in the treatment of encephalitis, paralysis and Parkinson’s disease; it stimulates the respiratory and motor centers of the nervous system and dilates coronary vessels. Crushed and processed plant material is applied as a plaster for bruises and bites from venomous animals and insects. Scientific evidence also confirms that harmala smoke suppresses the growth of bacteria such as typhoid, dysentery and Escherichia coli.
Today, yuzarliq is available in pharmacies in a number of countries both in its natural form and as pharmaceutical preparations (including deoxypeganine hydrochloride, harmine hydrochloride, and others). Remarkably, the full range of its beneficial properties has yet to be completely explored.
For pharmaceutical purposes, the overground parts of the plant are harvested during budding and early flowering, then dried under a protecting apron in well-ventilated conditions, spread in layers 7–10 cm thick on paper or cloth. Both the herb and seeds are used to extract alkaloids such as pegamine, harmine and others.
In addition, Peganum harmala has long been known as a natural dye plant. Its seeds were traditionally used to produce a durable dye for coloring wool and fabrics in a range of vivid tones – from yellow to red – while in contemporary artisanal carpet weaving a dye derived from yuzarliq continues to be widely used.
The harmala seeds contain 10–25 percent fatty oil, used in natural soap production and in the manufacture of paints and varnishes. The overground parts of the plant – its stems and leaves – contain approximately 24 percent protein, 4 percent fatty oil and 31 percent extractive substances.
Branches of yuzarliq can also be seen in the herbarium collection of the Museum of Nature and Local History at the State Museum of the State Cultural Center of Turkmenistan, where they are displayed as a unique example of local medicinal flora, while stylized harmala branches even form a symbolic golden crown above the Olympic flame on the main sports arena in Ashgabat.
Nowadays, the traditional healing practices associated with yuzarliq – including the fumigation of spaces with its smoke – remain widely used in Turkmenistan, complementing modern national medical approaches to the treatment and prevention of diseases, as well as to the promotion and protection of public health. Perhaps this reflects the enduring wisdom of the Turkmen people, who have treated nature with great care since ancient times, taking from it only what is most valuable and strictly necessary.