Houseleek

Statema, B. C. P.

Plant

Houseleek

Sempervivum; Jupiter’s beard

Known today as: Sempervivum tectorum.
Kind: Plant, in 1 older authority
Constituents: malic and isocitric acids, mucilage, kaempferol glycosides, and 1 more
Earliest authority here: Charlemagne
Qualities: Cold and moist (Galenic tradition). What the degrees mean
In other databases: Plants of the World Online search · GBIF search · Wikidata search

Houseleek: what was it used for?

Cooling: its juice for burns, inflammations, and hot fevers.

Houseleek: what does modern science say?

A soothing juice; no specific action shown.

Pharmacognosy & Toxicology

Constituents

Mechanism

The leaf juice is cooling as aloe gel is, by water, mucilage, and mild acidity, which soothes a burn; it is astringent enough to help a small cut. Nothing in it enters the body.

Toxic dose

Safe on the skin; the juice is a weak emetic swallowed.

Standing

No monograph; a plant of folk first aid, kept on roofs by Charlemagne’s capitulary against lightning.

Alberti, Á., et al. (2012). “Characterization of phenolic compounds and antinociceptive activity of Sempervivum tectorum L. leaf juice.” Journal of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Analysis 70. Verified against its record · doi:10.1016/j.jpba.2012.06.017

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.

Houseleek: what lore surrounds it?

Grown on roofs to ward off lightning and fire.

Houseleek: what did the older authorities say?

Charlemagne: The Capitulare de villis ends by ordering that every gardener have “Jupiter’s beard” growing on his house.

Sources

Capitulare de villis (c. 800). Book, seen in reviews

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

2 cited: 1 verified against its record, 1 book, seen in reviews. 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: “Houseleek.” 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/houseleek.
MLA: “Houseleek.” Materia Medica, edited by B. C. P. Statema, version 1, The Thinking Press, 25 Sept. 2026, thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/houseleek. Accessed 8 Oct. 2026.
APA: Houseleek. (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/houseleek

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