Parsley
Greek selinon, petroselinon
- Known today as
- Petroselinum crispum.
- Kind
- Plant, in 2 older authorities
- Constituents
- apiol, myristicin, apigenin
- Poisoning
- Hepatotoxic monoterpenes (pulegone)
- Earliest authority here
- Greek games
- Qualities
- Hot and dry (Galenic tradition). What the degrees mean
- In other databases
- Plants of the World Online search · GBIF search · Wikidata search
Caution. The seeds and their oil are toxic in quantity; the leaf is a safe food.
Parsley: what was it used for?
To open obstructions of the liver and kidneys, and to provoke urine and the menses.
Parsley: what does modern science say?
The seed oil’s apiole and myristicin are toxic in quantity and were used, dangerously, as abortifacients.
Parsley: is it poisonous?
Yes, in some form or dose. The seeds and their oil are toxic in quantity; the leaf is a safe food. Its poisoning is hepatotoxic monoterpenes (pulegone): Hours. Historical description, not medical advice; in a poisoning, call a poison centre.
Pharmacognosy & Toxicology
- Constituents
- apiol ChEMBLin the seed oil
- myristicin
- apigenin ChEMBL
- Mechanism
- Apiol provokes the uterus and in quantity injures the liver and kidneys; it was sold in capsules as an abortifacient into the twentieth century.
- Toxic dose
- The herb is a food; the seed oil in gram doses has killed.
- Syndrome
- Hepatotoxic monoterpenes (pulegone)
- Standing
- A food; the oil is not approved for any use.
- Ciganda, C., and Laborde, A. (2003). “Herbal infusions used for induced abortion.” Journal of Toxicology: Clinical Toxicology 41. Verified against its record · doi:10.1081/clt-120021104
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.
Parsley: what lore surrounds it?
“To need only parsley” was a Greek way of saying a man was dying.
English garden lore explained the seed’s notoriously slow germination by saying it must go to the Devil and back seven times, or nine, before it will sprout, so a careful gardener sowed plenty, since the Devil kept the rest. Transplanting parsley, giving away its roots, or having it cut for you were each held to bring bad luck, and it was said to grow best where the woman of the house ruled.
Parsley: what did the older authorities say?
- Greek games
- Victors at the Nemean games were crowned with selinon, wild celery or parsley.
- Plutarch
- Tells of soldiers dismayed to meet mules loaded with parsley before a battle, since the Greeks garlanded tombs with it.
Sources
- Plutarch, Life of Timoleon. Book, seen in reviews
- Dioscorides, De materia medica. Read in part · the text read
- Garden Betty, “That Devilish Parsley.” Book, not indexed
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
- 4 cited: 1 read in part, 1 verified against its record, 1 book, seen in reviews, 1 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 25, 2026
- Chicago
“Parsley.” 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/parsley.
- MLA
“Parsley.” Materia Medica, edited by B. C. P. Statema, version 1, The Thinking Press, 25 Sept. 2026, thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/parsley. Accessed 8 Oct. 2026.
- APA
Parsley. (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/parsley
Club members keep entries on a shelf with private notes, print the plates as cards, and receive an entry by email each week. Create a free account before January 1, 2027 and all of it is yours for good. About the Club
See Also
Poisoned alike: hepatotoxic monoterpenes (pulegone)
Pennyroyal · Water germander · Rue · Savin · the syndrome, with all of them →
Sharing myristicin, apigenin
Carmelite water · Myristica fragrans · Achillea millefolium · Matricaria chamomilla · Agrimonia eupatoria
Also in Plutarch
Drawing on the same sources: Plutarch, Dioscorides
Truffle · Pomegranate · Ox eye · Purslane · the bibliography →
Of the same qualities: hot and dry
Rosemary · Onion · Myrrh · Saffron · Long pepper · what the degrees mean →
Nearby in the alphabet
Paschal candle · Paregoric (camphor, benzoic acid, and anise oil in spirit) · Passarino’s white powder (a man skilled in the spagyric (chemical) art (note XXXIX)) · Panther cap (white-spotted amanita of European woods) · Pawpaw (the one temperate tree of the custard-apple family) · Palm of Christ (Ricinus communis (note XLII)) · Pearls, prepared (Pearls ground to a fine powder) · Palm and olive branches (Branches blessed on Palm Sunday)
Historical description, not medical advice.