# Lovage (Levisticum officinale)

**Levisticum**

**Known today as.** *Levisticum officinale*, of the carrot family.

Kind: Plant  
Poisoning: Phytophotodermatitis (https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/poisons/phototoxic)

## What was it used for?

Warming, for wind, the stomach, and the urine; a pot-herb of monastery gardens.

## What does modern science say?

A mild diuretic; no strong evidence for other uses.

## Pharmacognosy and toxicology

- **ligustilide**: a phthalide, the celery scent
- **butylphthalide**: 
- **bergapten and psoralen**: furanocoumarins
- **sotolone**: the maggi smell

**Mechanism.** The phthalides relax smooth muscle and are mildly diuretic, which is the “urine” of the herbals; the furanocoumarins photosensitise. Butylphthalide, from celery seed, is a licensed stroke drug in China.

**Dose.** Safe at food doses; avoid in kidney inflammation and before sun exposure.

**Standing.** EMA monograph (2013) for the root as a diuretic in minor urinary complaints.

## What lore surrounds it?

Grieve is candid that lovage “is not a striking enough plant to have claimed the attention of poets and painters, and no myths or legends are connected with it,” but notes that its name Baldmoney “is said to be a corruption of Balder, the Apollo of the northern nations, to whom the plant was dedicated,” and that “the public-house cordial named ‘Lovage,’ formerly much in vogue, however, owed such virtue as it may have possessed to Tansy.”

## What did the older authorities say?

**Charlemagne.** Lovage is among the plants the *Capitulare de villis* orders to be grown on the royal estates.

## Sources

- *Capitulare de villis* (c. 800).
- Grieve, M. (1931). *A Modern Herbal*, “Lovage.” botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/l/lovage42.html
- EMA/HMPC (2013). *Community herbal monograph on Levisticum officinale Koch, radix* (EMA/HMPC/524621/2011).

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

Historical description, not medical advice.