Ground ivy

Statema, B. C. P.

Plant

Ground ivy

Alehoof; gill

Known today as: Glechoma hederacea. A low, creeping weed of the mint family with small purple flowers, common in shaded grass.
Kind: Plant, in 2 older authorities
Constituents: glechomine, rosmarinic acid, ursolic acid, and 1 more
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 27, 2026.

Ground ivy: what was it used for?

Infused in ale for flavor, clarity, and keeping by Saxon and later English brewers before hops came into general use late in the fifteenth century; “gill ale,” brewed with it, was still sold as a tonic in eighteenth-century coffee houses and victualling houses.

Ground ivy: what does modern science say?

No strong clinical evidence supports any of its traditional uses.

Pharmacognosy & Toxicology

Constituents

glechominea bitter
rosmarinic acid ChEMBL
ursolic acid ChEMBL
pulegone ChEMBLin the oil, at low levels

Mechanism

A mild bitter and astringent, antimicrobial by its phenolic acids, which is why it kept ale from souring; the pulegone of the oil, the pennyroyal toxin, is in small amounts.

Toxic dose

Safe as tea; the pulegone content poisons horses that eat it in quantity.

Standing

No monograph; used in Germany for mild coughs on tradition.

Wichtl, M. (2004). Herbal Drugs and Phytopharmaceuticals, 3rd ed., “Hederae terrestris herba.” Book, not indexed

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.

Ground ivy: what lore surrounds it?

Galen recommended it for inflamed eyes, and the English herbalist John Gerard praised it as a diuretic and a remedy for ringing in the ears and complaints of the kidneys. It was valued in Austria as a herb of the lungs, liver, and digestion, and European settlers carried it to North America, where it is now a common weed of lawns.

Ground ivy: what did the older authorities say?

Pliny: Pliny's chamæcissos “has ears like those of wheat, with numerous leaves, and small branches, about five in number. When in blossom it might almost be taken for the white violet: the root of it is diminutive.” Its one remedy: “For sciatica, the leaves of it are taken, seven days consecutively, in doses of three oboli, in two cyathi of wine: this is a very bitter potion, however.”
Culpeper: An herb of Venus with more names than almost any herb of its size: Cat’s-foot, Gill-go-by-ground, Turn-hoof, Haymaids, Alehoof; quick, sharp, and bitter, and so hot and dry; “a singular herb for all inward wounds, exulcerated lungs”; it expels venom and the plague; with honey and a little burnt alum a gargle for a sore mouth; the juice boiled with honey and verdigris cleanses fistulas.

Sources

Wikipedia, “Glechoma hederacea.” Book, not indexed
Pliny the Elder, Natural History 24.84, trans. J. Bostock & H. T. Riley (1855), Perseus Digital Library. Primary text
Culpeper, N. (1653). The Complete Herbal, “Alehoof, Or Ground-Ivy.” 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

4 cited: 2 primary text, 2 book, not indexed.

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 27, 2026 · last revised October 1, 2026

Chicago: “Ground ivy.” 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/ground-ivy.
MLA: “Ground ivy.” Materia Medica, edited by B. C. P. Statema, version 1, The Thinking Press, 1 Oct. 2026, thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/ground-ivy. Accessed 8 Oct. 2026.
APA: Ground ivy. (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/ground-ivy

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