# Iva (Ajuga iva)

**Iua**

**Known today as.** *Ajuga iva*; see [Arthritica](https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/arthritica).

Kind: Plant

## What did Canale use it for?

In the oil for the bewitched (ch. 9).

## What does modern science say?

Some anti-inflammatory activity has been reported in the laboratory; no established effect. Extracts have lowered blood sugar in rats and show anti-inflammatory activity in the laboratory, which has drawn pharmacological interest in North Africa; nothing has been shown in people.

## Pharmacognosy and toxicology

- **iridoid glycosides**: harpagide, 8-O-acetylharpagide
- **clerodane diterpenes**: ajugarins
- **phytoecdysteroids**: 

**Mechanism.** Canale’s *iva* is *Ajuga iva*, the musky bugle of the Mediterranean: in the oil for the bewitched its contribution is the scent; in North African folk medicine it is drunk for diabetes, where it lowers blood sugar in rats by an unestablished route.

**Dose.** No human toxicity recorded.

**Standing.** No monograph; animal data only.

## What lore surrounds it?

In Morocco a decoction of iva is the household remedy for fever, diabetes, and the stomach, sold in every spice market; the plant smells of pine and tastes of gall.

## What did the older authorities say?

**Dioscorides.** Gives *chamaipitys*, the ground pine, of which iva is the southern kind, for the jaundice, the sciatica, and the womb, and it is the *iva arthritica* of the later Latin, the herb of the joints.

**The Arab physicians.** Prescribe *shandaqūqā*, the iva of the Maghreb, for fevers and the stomach, and it remains among the most used herbs of Moroccan and Algerian folk medicine.

## Sources

- Dioscorides, *De materia medica* III.
- Bellakhdar, J. (1997). *La pharmacopée marocaine traditionnelle*. Paris: Ibis Press.
- Bouyahya, A., et al. (2020). “Ethnomedicinal use, phytochemistry, pharmacology, and toxicology of *Ajuga iva*.” *Journal of Ethnopharmacology* 258.

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*Iva.* In *Materia Medica*, edited by B. C. P. Statema. Version 1, revised 2026-10-01. The Thinking Press. https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/iva

Historical description, not medical advice.