Tormentil
Tormentilla; septfoil, bloodroot
- Known today as
- Potentilla erecta, of the rose family, a small yellow four-petalled flower of heaths, with a woody root red within.
- Kind
- Plant, in 1 older authority
- Constituents
- agrimoniin, catechin tannins, tormentoside, and 1 more
- Earliest authority here
- Culpeper (1616–1654)
- In other databases
- Plants of the World Online search · GBIF search · Wikidata search
Revised October 1, 2026: An older authority added from a text read in full. Version 1, first published September 30, 2026.
Tormentil: what was it used for?
One of the strongest astringents of the herbal: the root for fluxes, dysentery, and bleeding, and in gargles for the mouth and throat. Its name is from tormina, the griping of the bowels.
Tormentil: what does modern science say?
The root is very rich in tannins; small studies have tried it against diarrhoea and ulcerative colitis.
Pharmacognosy & Toxicology
- Constituents
- agrimoniin ChEMBLan ellagitannin
- catechin tannins15–20 per cent in all
- tormentosidea triterpene glycoside
- tormentillic acid
- Mechanism
- The most tannin-rich root of the European flora: protein precipitation tightens the gut lining, stops bleeding, and kills microbes on contact, and a trial of tormentil extract in children with rotavirus diarrhoea shortened it from five days to three (Subbotina, 2003); another in ulcerative colitis lowered the disease index.
- Toxic dose
- Safe at pharmacopoeial doses; large doses nauseate.
- Standing
- EMA monograph (2011) for mild diarrhoea and mouth inflammation, on tradition.
- EMA/HMPC (2011). Community herbal monograph on Potentilla erecta (L.) Raeusch., rhizoma (EMA/HMPC/527028/2010). Verified against its record
- Subbotina, M. D., et al. (2003). “Effect of oral administration of tormentil root extract on rotavirus diarrhea in children: a randomized, double blind, controlled trial.” Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal 22. Verified against its record · doi:10.1097/01.inf.0000078355.29647.d0
The abstract of each source, beneath its citation. For Club members. About the Club or sign in.
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.
Tormentil: what lore surrounds it?
In Orkney and the Western Isles the root was used to tan leather, and it gave a red dye.
Tormentil: what did the older authorities say?
- Culpeper
- “A gallant herb of the Sun,” most excellent to stay all fluxes of blood; with Venice treacle and the patient laid to sweat it expels poison and the plague, “for it is an ingredient in all antidotes or counter poisons”; he cites Andreas Urlesius that its decoction cures the French pox as well as guaiacum or China root; the powder in plantain juice for those who cannot hold their water.
Sources
- Grieve, M. (1931). A Modern Herbal, “Tormentil.” Book, not indexed
- Gerard, J. (1597). The Herball. Verified against its record · doi:10.5962/bhl.title.99400
- Culpeper, N. (1653). The Complete Herbal, “Tormentil, Or Septfoil.” Project Gutenberg #49513. Primary text
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
- Each quotation from the older authorities checked word for word against the text, read in full
- Sources
- 5 cited: 3 verified against its record, 1 primary text, 1 book, not indexed. 1 with the abstract on file.
- 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 30, 2026 · last revised October 1, 2026
- Chicago
“Tormentil.” In Materia Medica, edited by B. C. P. Statema. Version 1. The Thinking Press, 2026–. Last modified October 1, 2026. https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/tormentil.
- MLA
“Tormentil.” Materia Medica, edited by B. C. P. Statema, version 1, The Thinking Press, 1 Oct. 2026, thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/tormentil. Accessed 8 Oct. 2026.
- APA
Tormentil. (2026, October 1). In B. C. P. Statema (Ed.), Materia medica (Version 1). The Thinking Press. Retrieved October 8, 2026, from https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/tormentil
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See Also
Sharing agrimoniin
Agrimonia eupatoria · Alchemilla vulgaris · Potentilla reptans
Also in Nicholas Culpeper
Valerian in Nicholas Culpeper · Toadflax in Nicholas Culpeper · Woad in Nicholas Culpeper · Tansy in Nicholas Culpeper · everything Nicholas Culpeper names →
Drawing on the same sources: Grieve, Gerard, Culpeper
Vinegar of the four thieves · Thyme · Violet, lettuce, sow-thistle · Sweet woodruff · Woody nightshade · Viper · the bibliography →
Nearby in the alphabet
Touch-pieces · Tongue stones (called tongue-stones, and by the Germans adders’ tongues) · Troche of agaric (Laricifomes officinalis (syn) · Tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) · Truffle · Toadstone (Lepidotes, believed to come from a toad’s head) · Turkey tail (banded bracket of dead wood, common worldwide)
Historical description, not medical advice.