Arq Makoh and Mako (Makoh): Liver Herb, Berries and the Poison Line
Arq makoh is the steam distilled water of black nightshade (makoh, mako or makoy, Solanum nigrum), the small weed with white starry flowers and berries that ripen from green to glossy black along field edges and drains. Unani calls the plant a jigar (liver) herb; toxicology calls its green berries and raw leaves a poisoning risk. This page keeps the two apart, because the arq in the bottle and the berry on the roadside are not the same hazard.
In brief
- English name: black nightshade
- Local names: mako, makoh, makoy, makoi; mako dana for the berries; kakamachi (Sanskrit)
- Arabic / Unani: inab-us-salab (“fox grape”), mako
- Scientific name: Solanum nigrum L., family Solanaceae; a complex that often includes Solanum americanum
- Parts used: whole herb and leaves (arq, decoction, poultice), ripe berries (food), unripe berries (toxic)
- The risk molecules: steroidal glycoalkaloids (solanine, solamargine, solasonine), highest in green berries and leaves
- Safety flag: HIGH for the raw plant; LOW to MEDIUM for a plain distillate
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What is makoh, and what is arq makoh?
Makoh is a soft, branching annual up to knee height, with oval dark green leaves, tiny white flowers with yellow centres, and pea sized berries hanging in little bunches. It grows uninvited in cotton and wheat fields, along canal banks and in any damp corner of a city plot. Children eat the black berries. Goats eat the whole plant. Hakeems cut the leafy stems while green and either boil them or send them to the distiller.
Arq makoh is what comes out of that still: the herb goes into a copper or steel vessel with water, the steam is condensed, and the result is a clear, faintly green smelling water bottled by Hamdard, Qarshi and dozens of small distillers. Like every arq it is mostly water carrying a trace of the plant’s volatile aroma. The glycoalkaloids that make the plant dangerous are heavy, non volatile molecules; they stay in the still with the boiled leaves. That is why arq is the gentlest form of makoh, and also why the loudest claims made for it are hard to believe. For how an arq compares with gulab, ajwain and podina waters, see what each distillate is really for.
Which part of the plant is poisonous?
The danger is in the green. Solanum nigrum makes steroidal glycoalkaloids, mainly solanine, solamargine and solasonine, as a chemical defence, and unripe berries and leaves hold the most. As the fruit ripens to black the chemistry changes: a 2023 analysis in the Journal of Separation Science mapped over a hundred of these compounds across ripening and found the mature fruit’s alkaloids are heavier, more polar and poorly absorbed from the gut, which is why ripe berries are eaten as fruit in many countries while unripe ones cause illness.
Poisoning looks like this: nausea, cramping, vomiting and diarrhoea a few hours after eating, sometimes with a dry mouth, a fast or irregular pulse, dilated pupils, confusion or drowsiness. A 2026 review in Planta Medica collected 41 published poisoning reports involving black nightshade and its bittersweet cousin, most from eating berries. In 2024 Dutch poison specialists described frozen green beans contaminated with unripe nightshade berries; a child and three adults were watched in hospital with only minor symptoms, and the product was recalled within days. Small children are the usual victims because the berries look like tiny grapes and hang at hand height.
The roadside rule: black and soft means ripe, any green means leave it
A ripe mako berry is fully black, glossy, soft enough to burst between finger and thumb, and comes away from the stalk with a gentle pull. Any berry with a green or purplish tinge, a hard feel, or that needs tugging is unripe and carries far more glycoalkaloid. Taste is not a safe test, since the bitterness that signals alkaloid is faint in small fruit. Never let a child under 5 forage these, and never eat the leaves raw: cooked young leaves are a village saag in parts of South Asia and Africa, boiled with a change of water, but they are not a salad green. If a child has eaten green berries or chewed leaves, call a hospital or poison line and take a sprig of the plant with you.
What does Unani say makoh does, and what does the evidence say?
Unani texts class mako as cold and dry, a muhallil (resolver of swellings) and mubarrid (cooler), and prescribe it for a “hot” or enlarged liver and spleen, for dropsy (fluid swelling), for itching skin, and as a poultice on painful swellings and piles. The arq is the modern, mild carrier of that tradition: a glass in summer for “jigar ki garmi”, often paired with arq kasni or arq gaozaban. Ayurveda’s kakamachi has a similar liver and skin reputation.
- Reasonably supported: that the plant is pharmacologically active. Its glycoalkaloids and glycoproteins do things in a dish and in rats, including protecting rodent livers from chemical poisons. Active is not the same as safe or useful in people.
- Preliminary (lab and animal only): anti inflammatory, antioxidant and anti tumour findings for extracts, mostly on cells or rodents. No human trial supports makoh for fatty liver, hepatitis or an enlarged spleen.
- Tradition only: “cooling the liver” and clearing skin heat. Nothing here can be measured in modern terms; it belongs to the mizaj framework, where a cooling herb is watery, light and sedating. The arq fits that description rather well, whatever it does to liver enzymes.
- Unsupported and unsafe: raw berry or leaf “juice for the liver” totkay on video platforms, and any idea that makoh replaces treatment for jaundice, hepatitis or a fatty liver report. The sibling page on arq makoh’s liver claims goes through them one by one, and our graded list of fatty liver herbs explains why weight and sugar matter more than any bottle.
Herb versus arq: why both benefits and risks shrink in the bottle
| Form | What it carries | Main risk |
|---|---|---|
| Raw green berries | Highest glycoalkaloids | Poisoning, especially children |
| Raw leaves | High glycoalkaloids | Poisoning; irritant |
| Ripe black berries | Low, poorly absorbed alkaloids | Low; misidentified fruit |
| Boiled leaf saag, water changed | Much reduced | Low if properly cooked |
| Plain arq (steam distillate) | Water plus volatile aroma; almost no alkaloid | Low; a spoiled bottle |
| “Fortified” arq or extract | Unknown; depends on the maker | Unknown; the label is the only clue |
So when a seller says the arq is “powerful for the liver”, ask what carried that power across the still. Steam carries smell, not steroidal alkaloids. A plain arq is a cooling, pleasant, near flavourless water that spoils once opened, so buy sealed, keep it cool and discard anything cloudy or sour. If a bottle of “arq makoh” smells strongly herbal and tastes distinctly bitter, the maker has most likely added a decoction or extract back in; that is a different product of unknown strength, and the label should say so.
How is arq makoh used, and who should avoid it?
In homes it is drunk like a sharbat base: a small glass, plain or with arq kasni, in the summer afternoon, sometimes with a spoon of gond katira as in our jigar ki garmi lassi. Used that way, as a food, there is no realistic alkaloid exposure from a plain distillate. Once a bottle is bought as medicine, for a liver complaint, swelling or skin, the pack or a qualified practitioner sets the amount and the duration, and the course should have an end date. Judge within two to three weeks; if the symptom that sent you to the bottle has not changed, stop and get it looked at.
Children under 5 should never be given the raw plant in any form, and a plain arq is not a children’s drink either. Pregnant and breastfeeding women should avoid makoh in every form: the alkaloids are a concern for the womb and nothing is known about the distillate in pregnancy. Anyone with hepatitis, jaundice, a known liver disease or kidney disease must not swap prescribed care for a herb; yellow eyes or skin, dark urine, pale stools, a swollen belly, vomiting blood or confusion are hospital signs, not arq signs. Do not pair it with sedatives or anticholinergic medicines, since glycoalkaloids act on the same systems. If anyone, especially a child, has eaten green berries or chewed leaves, treat it as poisoning: go to hospital, take the plant, and do not wait for symptoms, which can arrive hours later. Stop any makoh product and seek help for a rash, swelling of the mouth, a racing heart or drowsiness.
Arq makoh and makoh questions people ask
Makoh in English kya hai?
Black nightshade. The botanical name is Solanum nigrum, a weed of the potato and tomato family with white flowers and berries that ripen from green to black. Mako, makoy and makoi are the same plant.
Arq makoh ke fayde kya hain?
Tradition uses it as a cooling summer water for a “hot” liver, swelling and itchy skin. As a plain distillate it is mostly water with a trace of aroma, so the fair expectation is a pleasant cooling drink rather than a liver medicine; no human trial supports it for any liver disease.
Arq makoh ke side effects kya hain?
A plain arq rarely causes any, because the poisonous glycoalkaloids do not pass through the still. Problems come from spoiled bottles, from “fortified” products with extract added, and from using it instead of real care for jaundice or hepatitis. Pregnant women and children should avoid it for lack of data.
Mako jigar ke liye kaise kaam karta hai?
In Unani terms it cools and resolves a hot, enlarged liver; in modern terms the plant’s compounds protected rodent livers from chemical poisons in lab work, which does not translate to people drinking a distillate. The things that change a fatty liver report are weight, sugar, alcohol and activity.
Makoh ke beri (mako dana) zehreeli hain?
Green or half ripe berries are, because of solanine type glycoalkaloids; they cause vomiting, cramps, diarrhoea and sometimes a fast pulse and confusion hours later. Fully ripe, soft, glossy black berries are low in alkaloid and are eaten as fruit in many places. No foraging under 5.
Arq makoh ka price Pakistan mein kitna hai?
It is one of the cheapest items at a Unani shop, priced like other arqs rather than like a rare herb, because the plant is a free growing weed and distillation is simple. Prices vary by brand and bottle size; a very cheap unsealed bottle is a hygiene risk, not a bargain.
Arq makoh roz pi sakte hain?
A plain distillate is unlikely to harm a healthy adult over a few weeks, but there is no benefit in daily use either, and a liver product taken daily should have a doctor’s knowledge behind it. For anything bought as medicine the pack or a practitioner sets the course, with an end date.
Mako aur arq mako mein kya farq hai?
Mako is the whole plant, with alkaloid rich leaves and green berries. Arq mako is the steam distilled water of that plant and carries almost none of those alkaloids. The plant can poison; the arq is mostly water. The same gap means the arq cannot carry the plant’s claimed strength either.
Arq makoh pregnancy mein le sakte hain?
Avoid it. The plant’s alkaloids are a concern in pregnancy and the distillate has no safety data. Plain nimbu pani or a sattu sharbat does the cooling job without the question mark.
Makoh poisoning ka ilaj kya hai?
Hospital care; there is no home antidote. Go in, take the plant or berries, and expect observation, fluids and treatment of symptoms. Do not make the person vomit at home. Most reported cases recover with support, but children and anyone with heart symptoms need close watching.
The bottom line
Makoh is a weed with real chemistry and a long Unani record for the liver and skin. Known: its green berries and leaves carry glycoalkaloids that poison, mostly children, a few hours after eating; its ripe berries are low in them; its distillate carries almost none. Claimed: cooling and relief for a hot liver, in a framework no blood test measures. Uncertain: whether any laboratory effect of the plant means anything for a person, since there are no trials. The main safety issue is the roadside berry, not the bottle; the main honesty issue is a bottle promising what steam cannot carry. More of this series sits in Unani & Herbal, Decoded.
Sources
- Roelen C, Mulder-Spijkerboer HN, Gee ESI, Kolukirik P, Biesta-Peters EG, Royen H. Public health risk due to contamination of Solanum nigrum in frozen green beans. Clinical Toxicology 2024;62(2):126-128. doi:10.1080/15563650.2024.2320838
- Aćimović M. Toxic Risks of Nightshade Species: A comprehensive review of the documented toxicity of Atropa belladonna, Solanum dulcamara, and Solanum nigrum. Planta Medica 2026;92(10):918-931. doi:10.1055/a-2818-1813
- Zhao W, Yan T, Huang X, Zhang Y. Analysis of steroidal glycoalkaloids and their metabolites in Solanum nigrum fruits. Journal of Separation Science 2023;46(13):e2200804. doi:10.1002/jssc.202200804