Greater celandine

Statema, B. C. P.

Plant

Greater celandine

Chelidonia maggiore

Known today as: Chelidonium majus.
Kind: Plant, in 1 older authority
Constituents: chelidonine, sanguinarine, coptisine
Earliest authority here: Pliny (AD 23/24–79)
In other databases: Plants of the World Online search · GBIF search · Wikidata search
In the Canale glossary: On the Manner of Discerning and Healing the Bewitched, Appendix A: Part Three, Chapter 6: Remedies Given by Mouth After the Purge

Caution. Hazardous in some form or dose; see the modern assessment below.

Greater celandine: what did Canale use it for?

Its water in a julep (ch. 6).

Greater celandine: what does modern science say?

Its yellow sap was used in folk medicine against warts, and internal use has caused liver damage.

Greater celandine: is it poisonous?

Yes, in some form or dose. Historical description, not medical advice; in a poisoning, call a poison centre.

Pharmacognosy & Toxicology

Constituents

Mechanism

The benzylisoquinoline alkaloids are cytotoxic and cholagogue; the latex burns the skin, which is the old use for warts.

Toxic dose

Preparations for the gall bladder have caused hepatitis in dozens of reported cases.

Standing

Withdrawn from oral products in Germany in 2008 after the liver cases; the European Medicines Agency advises against it.

Stickel, F., et al. (2003). “Acute hepatitis induced by Greater Celandine (Chelidonium majus).” Scandinavian Journal of Gastroenterology 38. Verified against its record · doi:10.1080/00365520310000942

The abstract of each source, beneath its citation. For Club members. About the Club or sign in.

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.

What Medicine Makes of It

Charming the WartThe toad, the bean, and the natural history of warts.

Greater celandine: what lore surrounds it?

English folk tradition held that witches could not abide the plant: some carried it in a red bag as a ward, households burned it as incense or scrubbed their floors with an infusion to drive witches out, and wearing it against the skin was said to protect a person facing unjust imprisonment or an unfavorable judgment. Old English leechbooks prescribe an eye salve of honey and celandine warmed in a copper vessel. The link to jaundice through its yellow sap, often repeated today, is only thinly attested in the older record.

Greater celandine: what did the older authorities say?

Pliny: Says the swallow (chelidon) restores the sight of its nestlings with this plant, whence its name.

Sources

[41] European Medicines Agency, Committee on Herbal Medicinal Products (HMPC). Herbal monographs, assessment reports and public statements, ema.europa.eu, cited under the herb concerned: aniseed (summary, EMA/305345/2016); Aristolochia (public statement, EMEA/HMPC/138381/2005); asarone (public statement, EMEA/HMPC/139215/2005); caraway (EMA/HMPC/715092/2013); centaury (EMA/HMPC/277493/2015); chicory root (assessment report, EMA/HMPC/113041/2010); cinnamon (EMA/HMPC/246774/2009); clove (assessment report, EMA/HMPC/534946/2010); ethanol in herbal products (reflection paper, EMA/HMPC/85114/2008); fennel (EMEA/HMPC/372839/2016, Rev. 1, 2024); fumitory (draft assessment report, EMA/HMPC/367013/2021); greater celandine (public statement, EMA/HMPC/743927/2010); hops (EMA/HMPC/682384/2013); horehound (EMA/HMPC/604271/2012); mallow (assessment report, EMA/HMPC/749518/2016); marshmallow root (Althaeae radix); melissa (summary, EMA/HMPC/310761/2013); myrrh (assessment report and monograph, EMA/HMPC/96910/2010 and 96911/2010); peppermint oil (assessment report, EMEA/HMPC/349465/2006); pyrrolizidine alkaloids (public statement, EMA/HMPC/893108/2011); rhubarb (EMA/HMPC/113700/2019); sage (Salviae officinalis folium); wormwood (EMA/HMPC/751490/2016). Read in full · the text read
[78] Li, X.-L., Sun, Y.-P., Wang, M., Wang, Z.-B., & Kuang, H.-X. (2024). Alkaloids in Chelidonium majus L.: a review of its phytochemistry, pharmacology and toxicology. Frontiers in Pharmacology 15: 1440979. doi:10.3389/fphar.2024.1440979 Verified against its record · doi:10.3389/fphar.2024.1440979
[96] Pantano, F., Mannocchi, G., Marinelli, E., Gentili, S., Graziano, S., Busardò, F. P., & di Luca, N. M. (2017). Hepatotoxicity induced by greater celandine (Chelidonium majus L.): a review of the literature. European Review for Medical and Pharmacological Sciences 21(1 Suppl.): 46–52. Book, seen in reviews

Icy Sedgwick, on celandine folklore. Book, not indexed

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

5 cited: 1 read in full, 2 verified against its record, 1 book, seen in reviews, 1 book, not indexed. 1 with the abstract on file.

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

Chicago: “Greater celandine.” In Materia Medica, edited by B. C. P. Statema. Version 1. The Thinking Press, 2026–. Last modified September 25, 2026. https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/greater-celandine.
MLA: “Greater celandine.” Materia Medica, edited by B. C. P. Statema, version 1, The Thinking Press, 25 Sept. 2026, thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/greater-celandine. Accessed 8 Oct. 2026.
APA: Greater celandine. (2026, September 25). In B. C. P. Statema (Ed.), Materia medica (Version 1). The Thinking Press. Retrieved October 8, 2026, from https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/greater-celandine

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