Pumpkin seed
Pumpkin, Pepo of the U.S. Pharmacopoeia; Cucurbita pepo L., for pharmacy usually the Styrian variety, C. pepo convar. citrullina var. styriaca; in pharmacy Cucurbitae semen
- Known today as
- The whole, dry, ripe seed of the pumpkin, Cucurbita pepo, of the family Cucurbitaceae, an annual with a trailing, rough-haired stem, branching tendrils, large five-lobed leaves, and large yellow flowers. King’s Dispensatory describes the seeds as about 2 cm long, broadly ovate, flat, white or whitish, “inodorous; taste bland and oily.” The European Medicines Agency’s assessment report notes that the Styrian variety is preferred in pharmacy for its thin seed coat and soft taste, and that the seed is about half fatty oil.
- Kind
- Plant, in 1 older authority
- Constituents
- Δ5-sterols, fatty oil
- Earliest authority here
- King’s American Dispensatory (1898)
- In other databases
- Plants of the World Online · GBIF · Wikidata
Caution. Not for those under eighteen or pregnant women, whose urinary symptoms need medical supervision, nor in breast-feeding. Men using it should see a doctor if their complaints worsen, or if fever, spasms, blood in the urine, painful urination, or retention of urine occur. No adverse effects were reported from the member states, but allergic reactions to the Cucurbitaceae family should be considered.
Pumpkin seed: what was it used for?
A remedy for worms and for the bladder. King’s records that the seeds had long been popular with lay people as a remedy for worms, the oil taken fasting and followed by castor oil to remove tapeworm, and gives them as mucilaginous and diuretic, the expressed oil said to be a most certain and efficient diuretic. The assessment report records their traditional use in Europe as a diuretic and a remedy for tapeworm since medieval times, and more recently for the difficulties of an enlarged prostate and an irritable bladder.
Pumpkin seed: what does modern science say?
The European Medicines Agency’s herbal committee accepts the seed as a traditional herbal medicine, “exclusively based upon long-standing use,” for the relief of lower urinary tract symptoms of benign enlargement of the prostate or of an overactive bladder, after serious conditions have been excluded by a doctor (monograph of 2012). Its assessment report names the Δ7- and Δ5-sterols as the putative active constituents. It found only one controlled clinical study, by Bach (2000), in which after twelve months only the prostate symptom score differed from placebo, while urine flow, quality of life, prostate volume, and residual urine did not: “only a small effect” on symptoms, without changing the objective measures.
Pharmacognosy & Toxicology
- Constituents
- Δ5-sterolswith the Δ7-sterols, the putative active constituents
- fatty oilabout half the seed
- Mechanism
- Not established in the sources read for this entry.
- Standing
- European Union herbal monograph (2012): traditional use, “exclusively based upon long-standing use,” for lower urinary tract symptoms of benign prostatic enlargement or overactive bladder.
- European Medicines Agency, Committee on Herbal Medicinal Products. European Union herbal monograph on Cucurbitae semen (Pumpkin seed). EMA/HMPC/136024/2010, 20 November 2012. Read in full · the text read
- European Medicines Agency, Committee on Herbal Medicinal Products. Assessment report on Cucurbitae semen. EMA/HMPC/136022/2010, 20 November 2012. Read in part · the text read
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.
Pumpkin seed: what lore surrounds it?
The seeds are a quarter husk and three quarters kernel, King’s reports, and Dr L. Wolff held their worm-expelling principle to be a greenish-brown, acrid, bitter resin dissolved out by ether.
Pumpkin seed: what did the older authorities say?
- King’s American Dispensatory (1898)
- Mucilaginous, worm-killing, and diuretic, of service in strangury and urinary affections, gastritis, and fevers; the infusion “may be drank freely.” The West India seeds, it adds, were more active against worms than the North American.
Sources
- Felter, H. W., & Lloyd, J. U. (1898). King’s American Dispensatory, vol. 2, “Pepo.” Internet Archive, kingsamericandis02kinguoft. Read in part · the text read
- European Medicines Agency, Committee on Herbal Medicinal Products. European Union herbal monograph on Cucurbitae semen (Pumpkin seed). EMA/HMPC/136024/2010, 20 November 2012. Read in full · the text read
- European Medicines Agency, Committee on Herbal Medicinal Products. Assessment report on Cucurbitae semen. EMA/HMPC/136022/2010, 20 November 2012. Read in part · the text read
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
- 3 cited: 1 read in full, 2 read in part.
- 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.
Club members can point at a technical term in this entry, such as a constituent, an action, or a word of Jung’s, to read its definition from the source. The Club.
Cite This Entry
Version 1 · first published October 17, 2026
- Chicago
“Pumpkin seed.” In Materia Medica, edited by B. C. P. Statema. Version 1. The Thinking Press, 2026–. Last modified October 17, 2026. https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/pumpkin-seed.
- MLA
“Pumpkin seed.” Materia Medica, edited by B. C. P. Statema, version 1, The Thinking Press, 17 Oct. 2026, thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/pumpkin-seed. Accessed 17 Oct. 2026.
- APA
Pumpkin seed. (2026, October 17). In B. C. P. Statema (Ed.), Materia medica (Version 1). The Thinking Press. Retrieved October 17, 2026, from https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/pumpkin-seed
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See Also
Sharing fatty oil
Drawing on the same sources: Felter
Saw palmetto · Pokeweed · Sorrel, syrup of · the bibliography →
Nearby in the alphabet
Purslane (a succulent, creeping herb of warm gardens) · Puffball (White balls that ripen into a cloud of brown spores) · Quicksilver (and its salts such as calomel and corrosive sublimate) · Psyllium (of the family Plantaginaceae) · Quince (Cydonia oblonga) · The prologue of John · Radish (Raphanus sativus (now classed by Kew as Raphanus raphanistrum subsp) · Primrose
Historical description, not medical advice.
