# Solomon’s seal (Polygonatum multiflorum)

**Known today as.** *Polygonatum multiflorum* and its relatives. A shade-loving woodland perennial with arching stems of paired leaves and small white bell flowers.

Kind: Plant  
Poisoning: Saponin irritation (https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/poisons/saponin)

## What was it used for?

The rhizome used as a poultice and decoction for bruises, sprains, and wounds in European and Chinese medicine.

## What does modern science say?

Laboratory studies suggest some anti-inflammatory activity; it is not established in clinical use.

## Pharmacognosy and toxicology

- **steroidal saponins**: polygonatosides
- **mucilage**: 
- **convallarin**: a cardioactive glycoside, in small amounts
- **asparagine**: 

**Mechanism.** The mucilage and saponins make a poultice that is soothing and mildly anti-inflammatory on a bruise, which is the old use; the berries have cardiac glycosides of the lily-of-the-valley type and have poisoned children with vomiting and diarrhoea. The Chinese species (*P. odoratum*, yu zhu; *P. sibiricum*, huang jing) are tonic herbs of that pharmacopoeia.

**Dose.** The rhizome externally is safe; the berries are not.

**Standing.** No European monograph; two species in the Chinese Pharmacopoeia.

## What lore surrounds it?

Its name comes from the round scars left on the rhizome where each year’s stem broke away, said to resemble the interlocking triangles of King Solomon’s seal, the six-pointed star later bound up with his legendary power over demons and his knowledge of herbs.

## What did the older authorities say?

**Culpeper.** “Saturn owns the plant, for he loves his bones well”: the root is “found by experience” to close green wounds and to knit joints that go out of place and broken bones, bruised and applied, or infused a night in wine and drunk, “the most assured refuge of help to people of divers counties”; for falls and blows it dispels the congealed blood and the black and blue marks.

## Sources

- Wisconsin Horticulture, “Solomon’s Seal, *Polygonatum* spp.”
- Culpeper, N. (1653). *The Complete Herbal*, “Solomon’s Seal.” Project Gutenberg #49513.
- Zhao, P., et al. (2018). “The genus *Polygonatum*: a review of ethnopharmacology, phytochemistry and pharmacology.” *Journal of Ethnopharmacology* 214.

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

Historical description, not medical advice.