# Rhodiola (Rhodiola rosea) *Roseroot, rosenroot, golden root, Arctic root, *Rosenwurz*; the *rhodia radix* of Dioscorides, also called *rhodida*; *Rhodiola rosea* L.; in pharmacy *Rhodiolae roseae rhizoma et radix** **Known today as.** *Rhodiola rosea*, of the family Crassulaceae, native throughout the mountains of the Northern Hemisphere. The drug is the dried root and rhizome, though what is called the root is in fact an underground stem; the name refers, in the words of the European Medicines Agency’s assessment report, “to the rose-like fragrance of the fresh cut underground organs.” A main commercial source of the rhizomes is the Altai region of Asia. Kind: Plant > **Caution.** The European agency does not recommend it for children and adolescents under eighteen, for lack of adequate data. Headache, nausea, abdominal pain, diarrhoea, skin rash, and itching have been reported; no clinically relevant interactions have been observed. ## What was it used for? A root against headache in antiquity, and in the twentieth century a tonic against fatigue. Dioscorides prescribed it bruised with a little oil of roses and laid moist on the forehead and temples for headache. In 1969, the assessment report records, the Ministry of Health of the former USSR recommended the medical use and industrial production of its liquid extract, a herbal tea and a tincture in forty per cent alcohol “(or vodka)” being named as traditional preparations; the extract was given for asthenia and fatigue. ## What does modern science say? The European Medicines Agency’s herbal committee accepts the root and rhizome as a traditional herbal medicine, “exclusively based upon long-standing use,” for the relief of symptoms of stress such as fatigue and exhaustion (monograph of 2024). Its assessment report names phenylethanoids such as salidroside and the cinnamyl glycosides rosin, rosarin, and rosavin among the constituents, with about 0.05 per cent of essential oil in the dried rhizome, and notes that only limited data on quantities are available. A 2026 review of randomised trials of rhodiola and ashwagandha together, five of the twenty-four trials being of rhodiola, reported reduced stress and anxiety, better sleep, and improved cognition among the benefits, while naming heterogeneous methods, short trials, and small samples as limitations. ## Pharmacognosy and toxicology - **salidroside**: a phenylethanoid - **rosavin**: a cinnamyl glycoside, with rosin and rosarin - **rosin**: - **rosarin**: **Mechanism.** Not established in the sources read for this entry. **Standing.** European Union herbal monograph (2024): traditional use, “exclusively based upon long-standing use,” for symptoms of stress such as fatigue and exhaustion. ## What lore surrounds it? The Soviet liquid extract was admitted in 1975 as a ‘Temporary Pharmacopoeial Article,’ which allowed its large-scale industrial production, and the products were used in the parts of the former USSR now in the European Union, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania; the assessment report found no reports of a current medicinal use there. ## What did the older authorities say? **Dioscorides, *De materia medica* 4.45.** His *rhodia radix*, which the modern translators suggest is *Rhodiola rosea*, grows in Macedonia; it is like costus but lighter and uneven, and when bruised gives off a scent like that of roses. Bruised with a little rosaceum and applied moist to the forehead and temples, it helps “those aggrieved with headaches.” ## Sources - Dioscorides. *De materia medica*, 4-45, in the modern English version of T. A. Osbaldeston and R. P. A. Wood (Johannesburg: Ibidis, 2000), after Goodyer’s translation of 1655. Internet Archive. - European Medicines Agency, Committee on Herbal Medicinal Products. *European Union herbal monograph on Rhodiolae roseae rhizoma et radix (Arctic root)*. EMA/HMPC/24177/2023, 20 March 2024. - European Medicines Agency, Committee on Herbal Medicinal Products. *Assessment report on Rhodiolae roseae rhizoma et radix*. EMA/HMPC/24186/2023, 20 March 2024. - Łuszczak J & Kocki J (2026). Clinical evidence for the adaptogenic effects of Withania somnifera and Rhodiola rosea - A systematic review with molecular interpretation of psychometric outcomes. *Annals of agricultural and environmental medicine : AAEM*. PMID 41906501. - European Medicines Agency, Committee on Herbal Medicinal Products. *European Union herbal monograph on Rhodiolae roseae rhizoma et radix (Arctic root)*. EMA/HMPC/24177/2023, 20 March 2024. - European Medicines Agency, Committee on Herbal Medicinal Products. *Assessment report on Rhodiolae roseae rhizoma et radix*. EMA/HMPC/24186/2023, 20 March 2024. - Łuszczak J & Kocki J (2026). Clinical evidence for the adaptogenic effects of Withania somnifera and Rhodiola rosea - A systematic review with molecular interpretation of psychometric outcomes. *Annals of agricultural and environmental medicine : AAEM*. PMID 41906501. --- *Rhodiola.* In *Materia Medica*, edited by B. C. P. Statema. Version 1, revised 2026-10-16. The Thinking Press. https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/rhodiola Historical description, not medical advice.