Agrimony
Eupatorium of the ancients
- Known today as
- Agrimonia eupatoria.
- Kind
- Plant, in 2 older authorities
- Constituents
- agrimoniin, luteolin-7-glucoside, apigenin
- Earliest authority here
- Pliny (AD 23/24–79)
- In other databases
- Plants of the World Online search · GBIF search · Wikidata search
Revised October 1, 2026: An older authority added from a text read in full. Version 1, first published September 25, 2026.
Agrimony: what was it used for?
For wounds, the liver, and the flux; a staple of English herb-gardens.
Agrimony: what does modern science say?
Astringent from its tannins.
Pharmacognosy & Toxicology
- Constituents
- agrimoniin ChEMBLan ellagitannin, 4–10 per cent of the herb
- luteolin-7-glucoside ChEMBL
- apigenin ChEMBL
- Mechanism
- The tannins precipitate proteins, which tightens mucous membranes and stops small bleeding; agrimoniin is studied for anti-inflammatory and antiviral actions in vitro.
- Toxic dose
- No toxicity at the usual tea doses (3–6 g a day); tannins taken for weeks can hinder iron absorption.
- Standing
- An EMA monograph (2015) allows the herb for mild diarrhoea, inflammation of the mouth and throat, and as a wash for inflamed skin, on traditional use.
- EMA/HMPC (2015). European Union herbal monograph on Agrimonia eupatoria L., herba (EMA/HMPC/680597/2013). Verified against its record
- Wichtl, M. (2004). Herbal Drugs and Phytopharmaceuticals, 3rd ed. Verified against its record · doi:10.1021/np030752h
Constituent names open the compound’s record at PubChem, and “ChEMBL” beside a name opens its record at ChEMBL, the European Bioinformatics Institute’s database of bioactive molecules. Where a mechanism line was checked against ChEMBL (ChEMBL 37, read 1 October 2026), the check is shown with the measured value and its source paper, or says plainly that nothing has been measured. Doses are as the references give them, for description only; this is not medical advice. Each source carries the result of its check against Crossref, PubMed, or the authority’s page: see Verification.
Agrimony: what lore surrounds it?
Named for Mithridates Eupator, the royal poison-master. An English charm held that a sprig laid under the head brought sleep so deep the sleeper would not wake until it was taken away.
Agrimony: what did the older authorities say?
- Pliny
- “The eupatoria also is a plant under royal patronage.” Pliny describes a ligneous, hairy, swarthy stem “a cubit or more in length,” leaves “arranged at regular intervals” that “resemble those of cinquefoil or hemp” with five indentations at the edge, and says flatly that “the root is never used.” The one remedy he allows it: “The seed, taken in wine, is a sovereign remedy for dysentery.”
- Culpeper
- An herb “under Jupiter, and the sign Cancer,” “of a cleansing and cutting faculty, without any manifest heat, moderately drying and binding. It opens and cleanses the liver, helps the jaundice”; the decoction made with wine “is good against the biting and stinging of serpents, and helps them that make foul, troubled or bloody water”; “a draught of the decoction taken warm before the fit, first removes, and in time rids away the tertian or quartan agues”; and stamped with old swine’s grease it “draws forth thorns and splinters of wood, nails, or any other such things gotten in the flesh.”
Sources
- Grieve, M. (1931). A Modern Herbal. Read in part · the text read
- Pliny the Elder, Natural History 25.29, trans. J. Bostock & H. T. Riley (1855), Perseus Digital Library. Primary text
- Culpeper, N. (1653). The Complete Herbal, “Agrimony.” Project Gutenberg #49513. Primary text
Verification
- Checked
- October 1, 2026
- Passes
- Every sentence read against its sources, in the pass over the remaining 343 entries
- The Standing line checked against the authority it names (EMA, WHO, FDA, CITES, Commission E)
- Every dated or regulatory claim checked by category across the database
- Each quotation from the older authorities checked word for word against the text, read in full
- Sources
- 5 cited: 1 read in part, 2 verified against its record, 2 primary text.
- Corrections
- None were needed.
What was checked, how, and what was found is set out on the Verification page. A checked source is one whose record was found; it does not make the entry medical advice.
Cite This Entry
Version 1 · first published September 25, 2026 · last revised October 1, 2026
- Chicago
“Agrimony.” In Materia Medica, edited by B. C. P. Statema. Version 1. The Thinking Press, 2026–. Last modified October 1, 2026. https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/agrimony.
- MLA
“Agrimony.” Materia Medica, edited by B. C. P. Statema, version 1, The Thinking Press, 1 Oct. 2026, thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/agrimony. Accessed 8 Oct. 2026.
- APA
Agrimony. (2026, October 1). In B. C. P. Statema (Ed.), Materia medica (Version 1). The Thinking Press. Retrieved October 8, 2026, from https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/agrimony
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See Also
Sharing agrimoniin, apigenin
Potentilla reptans · Potentilla erecta · Alchemilla vulgaris · Matricaria chamomilla · Achillea millefolium · Petroselinum crispum
Also in Pliny the Elder
Alkanet in Pliny the Elder · Yellow dock in Pliny the Elder · Aloe in Pliny the Elder · everything Pliny the Elder names →
Also in Nicholas Culpeper
Adder’s-tongue fern in Nicholas Culpeper · The amulet herbs in Nicholas Culpeper · everything Nicholas Culpeper names →
Drawing on the same sources: Grieve, Culpeper, Wichtl
Historical description, not medical advice.