Goldenrod
European goldenrod, woundwort, Aaron’s rod, verge d’or, Goldruthe; Solidago virgaurea L.; in pharmacy Solidaginis virgaureae herba
- Known today as
- Solidago virgaurea, of the family Asteraceae, two to three feet high, with alternate clear green leaves and terminal panicles of golden flowers; of more than eighty species, Grieve says, it is “the only one” native to Britain. Culpeper found it in the open places of woods and copses, its small yellow flowers all turned one way and ripening into down carried off by the wind. When bruised, Grieve adds, it smells like wild carrot. The European Medicines Agency’s assessment report finds flavonoids, triterpene saponins, and the phenol glycoside leiocarposide.
- Kind
- Plant, in 1 older authority
- Constituents
- leiocarposide, flavonoids, triterpene saponins
- Earliest authority here
- Culpeper, The Complete Herbal (1653) (1616–1654)
- In other databases
- Plants of the World Online · GBIF · Wikidata
Caution. Not for those allergic to plants of the Asteraceae (Compositae) family, nor where reduced fluid intake is advised, as in severe heart or kidney disease; not under twelve, nor in pregnancy or breast-feeding, nor together with synthetic diuretics. See a doctor if fever, painful urination, spasms, or blood in the urine appear. Allergic reactions and mild stomach upsets have been reported.
Goldenrod: what was it used for?
A wound herb and a remedy for the stone. Its name, Grieve explains, comes from solidare, the plant being a vulnerary, one that ‘makes whole’; it is “astringent and diuretic and efficacious for stone in the bladder,” and an ingredient of the Swiss vulnerary faltrank. Culpeper calls it “a sovereign wound herb, inferior to none, both for the inward and outward hurts.”
Goldenrod: what does modern science say?
The European Medicines Agency’s herbal committee accepts the herb as a traditional herbal medicine, “exclusively based upon long-standing use,” to increase the amount of urine as an adjuvant in minor urinary complaints (monograph of 2008). Its assessment report found five uncontrolled, non-randomised open trials, of 22 to 1,487 participants, whose quality could not be evaluated, and concluded that treatment effects could be judged only on the basis of traditional use.
Pharmacognosy & Toxicology
- Constituents
- leiocarposidea phenol glycoside
- flavonoids
- triterpene saponins
- Mechanism
- Not established in the sources read for this entry.
- Standing
- European Union herbal monograph (2008): traditional use, “exclusively based upon long-standing use,” to increase the amount of urine in minor urinary complaints.
- European Medicines Agency, Committee on Herbal Medicinal Products. European Union herbal monograph on Solidaginis virgaureae herba (European Goldenrod). EMEA/HMPC/285758/2007, 4 September 2008. Read in full · the text read
- European Medicines Agency, Committee on Herbal Medicinal Products. Assessment report on Solidaginis virgaureae herba. EMEA/HMPC/285759/2007, 4 September 2008. Read in part · the text read
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.
Goldenrod: what lore surrounds it?
Grieve records that in 1788 a boy of ten, after taking the infusion for some months, “passed quantities of gravel, fifteen large stones weighing up to 1 1/4 OZ., and fifty over the size of a pea.” The leaves and flowers yield a yellow dye.
Goldenrod: what did the older authorities say?
- Culpeper, The Complete Herbal (1653)
- “Venus claims the herb, and therefore to be sure it respects beauty lost.” He cites Arnoldus de Villa Nova, who commended it much against the stone in the kidneys and to provoke urine in abundance, and gives its decoction or distilled water for inward bruises and to stay bleeding.
Sources
- Grieve, M. A Modern Herbal, “Golden Rod.” As published on botanical.com. Read in full · the text read
- Culpeper, N. The Complete Herbal, “Golden Rod.” Project Gutenberg, 49513. Read in part · the text read
- European Medicines Agency, Committee on Herbal Medicinal Products. European Union herbal monograph on Solidaginis virgaureae herba (European Goldenrod). EMEA/HMPC/285758/2007, 4 September 2008. Read in full · the text read
- European Medicines Agency, Committee on Herbal Medicinal Products. Assessment report on Solidaginis virgaureae herba. EMEA/HMPC/285759/2007, 4 September 2008. Read in part · the text read
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
- Sources
- 4 cited: 2 read in full, 2 read in part.
- 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.
Club members can point at a technical term in this entry, such as a constituent, an action, or a word of Jung’s, to read its definition from the source. The Club.
Cite This Entry
Version 1 · first published October 17, 2026
- Chicago
“Goldenrod.” In Materia Medica, edited by B. C. P. Statema. Version 1. The Thinking Press, 2026–. Last modified October 17, 2026. https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/goldenrod.
- MLA
“Goldenrod.” Materia Medica, edited by B. C. P. Statema, version 1, The Thinking Press, 17 Oct. 2026, thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/goldenrod. Accessed 17 Oct. 2026.
- APA
Goldenrod. (2026, October 17). In B. C. P. Statema (Ed.), Materia medica (Version 1). The Thinking Press. Retrieved October 17, 2026, from https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/goldenrod
Club members keep entries on a shelf with private notes, print the plates as cards, and receive an entry by email each week. Create a free account before January 1, 2027 and all of it is yours for good. About the Club
See Also
Sharing flavonoids, triterpene saponins
Botrychium lunaria · Ginkgo biloba · Buphthalmum salicifolium · Euphrasia officinalis · Aesculus hippocastanum · Herniaria glabra · Calendula officinalis
Also in Nicholas Culpeper
Ground cherry in Nicholas Culpeper · Gentian in Nicholas Culpeper · Ground ivy in Nicholas Culpeper · Feverfew in Nicholas Culpeper · everything Nicholas Culpeper names →
Drawing on the same sources: Grieve, Culpeper
Goldenseal · Goat’s rue · Gorse · Golden pills · the bibliography →
Nearby in the alphabet
Gold, frankincense, and myrrh (The gifts of the Magi) · Greater celandine (Chelidonium majus) · Gold leaf (Beaten gold) · Greek sage · Goji berry
Historical description, not medical advice.
