Vidanga extract (Embelia ribes)

Vidanga is the dried ripe fruit of Embelia ribes Burm.f. (Primulaceae, formerly placed in Myrsinaceae), the small dark berry known in trade as false black pepper. Its defining constituent is embelin, 2,5-dihydroxy-3-undecylcyclohexa-2,5-diene-1,4-dione (CAS 550-24-3, C17H26O4, molar mass 294.39), a lipophilic para-benzoquinone that crystallises as dark orange plates melting at 142–143 °C. Because embelin is a single, well-behaved chromophore, the extract standardises cleanly: Thovek supplies it assayed by HPLC at embelin 2.5%, 5% or 10%, with 5% the common commercial grade, and can supply high-purity embelin isolate at 95% and above as a separate article. Embelin is light-sensitive and poorly water-soluble, both of which shape packaging and formulation — amber or foil-laminate packing, and a solubiliser or a dry blend rather than a clear aqueous system. The sourcing story matters more here than for most Ayurvedic extracts. Embelia ribes is heavily wild-harvested and has been assessed under Indian CAMP workshops as Vulnerable in Karnataka, Nagaland, Odisha and Sikkim, Near Threatened in Arunachal Pradesh and Kerala, and Critically Endangered in Andhra Pradesh; the species is not CITES-listed. Supply pressure has produced a documented substitution problem. A genetic survey of Vidanga market samples in Maharashtra found the trade had been effectively taken over by Embelia tsjeriam-cottam, a close relative that the Ayurvedic Pharmacopoeia of India accepts as a substitute but which is not the same plant. Reported fruit embelin content differs across the three species usually encountered — about 5.94% w/w in E. ribes, 4.32% in E. tsjeriam-cottam and 1.85% in Myrsine africana — so a buyer who specifies embelin percentage alone has not specified the species. We declare the species on the CoA, identify each lot by HPTLC against an authenticated reference, offer DNA barcoding on request, and prioritise cultivated and traceable collection. The finished extract is a fine brown to reddish-brown powder with a characteristic pungent odour, plant-derived throughout and suitable for vegan and vegetarian labelling. It carries no milk, egg, soy, fish, crustacean, gluten, sesame, peanut or tree-nut input in either the material or the process, and no bovine, porcine or marine content. Lots ship with a CoA covering botanical and species identity, embelin assay by HPLC, loss on drying, ash, heavy metals to API and AYUSH limits, microbiology, pesticide residues and residual solvents to ICH Q3C, backed by MSDS, allergen and non-GMO declarations, stability data and organic certification where applicable.