# Marjoram and jasmine (Origanum majorana)

**Maggiorana*; *gelsomini**

**Known today as.** Sweet marjoram, *Origanum majorana*; jasmine, *Jasminum officinale*.

Kind: Plant

## What did Canale use it for?

Their oils for anointing, the jasmine “with crow’s gall” (ch. 9).

## What does modern science say?

Aromatic oils. Marjoram oil is antimicrobial in the dish; jasmine absolute is among the dearest materials of perfumery, since the flowers must be picked by hand at night.

## Pharmacognosy and toxicology

- **terpinen-4-ol**: in the marjoram oil
- **cis-sabinene hydrate**: 
- **benzyl acetate**: in the jasmine absolute
- **indole and methyl jasmonate**: the jasmine note

**Mechanism.** Marjoram oil is carminative and antimicrobial by its terpenes; jasmine is a perfume whose inhalation raised alertness in one small trial. Rubbed on, both are counter-irritants in an oil base and no more.

**Dose.** Safe at perfumery doses; jasmine absolute sensitises.

**Standing.** Marjoram has a traditional-use listing in France; jasmine is a perfumery material.

## What lore surrounds it?

Marjoram was the herb of Aphrodite, who first made it grow, and was put into bridal garlands; the jasmine came from Persia and India through the Arabs, and the scented oil of jasmine, *oleum iasmini*, was sold by the Venetian perfumers.

## What did the older authorities say?

**Dioscorides.** Gives *sampsychon*, marjoram, warming and drying, for the head and the nerves, and its oil for the sinews.

**The Arab physicians.** Brought jasmine, *yāsmīn*, into pharmacy, its flowers steeped in oil of sesame or almonds, warming, for cold pains and the paralysed.

## Sources

- Dioscorides, *De materia medica* III.
- Pomet, P. (1694). *Histoire générale des drogues*.
- Hongratanaworakit, T. (2010). “Stimulating effect of aromatherapy massage with jasmine oil.” *Natural Product Communications* 5.

---

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

Historical description, not medical advice.