# Savin (Juniperus sabina)

**Sabina**

**Known today as.** *Juniperus sabina*, a low juniper.

Kind: Plant  
Poisoning: Hepatotoxic monoterpenes (pulegone) (https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/poisons/hepatotoxic-terpenes)  
Toxic: yes

> **Caution.** 

## What did Canale use it for?

In the bath; among the amulets (chs. 7, 10).

## What does modern science say?

One of the most notorious abortifacients of early modern Europe, and highly toxic; an irritant whether taken or applied.

## Pharmacognosy and toxicology

- **sabinene**: 
- **sabinyl acetate**: the abortifacient and toxic principle

**Mechanism.** Sabinyl acetate injures the kidney and liver and provokes the uterus.

**Dose.** The oil in a few millilitres has killed women who took it to end pregnancies.

**Standing.** No medicinal use.

## What lore surrounds it?

“The Savin (Juniperus Sabina), in some parts of Italy, is held in great abhorrence as a plant of evil repute: it is called the ‘Devil's-tree,’ and the ‘Magician's Cypress,’ on account of the great use of it made in olden times by sorcerers and witches when working their spells.” Astrologers, Folkard adds, made it a herb of Mars.

## What did the older authorities say?

**Pliny.** Of savin, “known as brathy by the Greeks,” there are two kinds, one with the leaf of the tamarisk and one with that of the cypress, called by some the Cretan cypress; “it is used by many for fumigations, as a substitute for frankincense,” and in medicine is said to have the effect of cinnamon in doses twice as large; it reduces gatherings and disperses corrosive sores.

## Sources

- Pliny the Elder, *Natural History* 24.61, trans. J. Bostock & H. T. Riley (1855), Perseus Digital Library.
- Folkard, R. (1884). *Plant Lore, Legends, and Lyrics*, “Savin.” Project Gutenberg #44638.
- Nelson, L. S., et al. (2007). *Handbook of Poisonous and Injurious Plants*.

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

Historical description, not medical advice.