Agrimony (Agrimonia eupatoria): Traditional Uses & Safety

At a glance

Botanical name: Agrimonia eupatoria
Family: Rosaceae
Part used: Aerial Parts
Taste: Bitter, Astringent, Sour
Temperature: Cool
Moisture: Dry

On temperature, Gerard (1633), Culpeper (1653) and Salmon (1710) read it as warm. The app keeps cool, the modern reading of what the herb does in the body; the old readings are shown here but do not change it.

Taught in Eden's Table

Sprouts (grades K-2), Week 24

Our homeschool curriculum, one plant a week. Week 1 is free.

Safety at a glance

In pregnancy

Generally safe

While breastfeeding

Limited data; moderate use likely compatible during breastfeeding.

For children

Generally safe

Cautions

No significant; theoretical anticoagulant — caution

General contraindications

Generally safe in moderation

Stewardship

Agrimony (Agrimonia eupatoria) is cultivated and wild in Europe and North America. Stewardship: the 'church steeples' plant — named for the spike of flowers — taught as one of Anglo-Saxon 'holy herbs.'

In the traditional record

Agrimony (Agrimonia eupatoria) — the species name eupatoria honors Mithridates Eupator (1st century BCE), king of Pontus and an early herbalist; recorded in the Anglo-Saxon Lacnunga and by Nicholas Culpeper as a vulnerary, hepatic, and astringent herb for liver, urinary, and respiratory complaints.

Which herbs suit your body?

The same herb can calm one person and wire another. Our free assessment reads your pattern across temperature, moisture and tone, then matches herbs to it.

Take the free assessment Open Agrimony in the Apothecary

Teaching children at home? Eden's Table builds a full herbalism curriculum around plants like this one.

Educational use

The Apothecary is educational and does not constitute medical advice. Nothing here is intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Always consult a qualified healthcare provider before changing what you take, especially if you are pregnant, nursing, taking medication, or managing a diagnosed condition.

On our sources

These entries draw on public-domain materia medica, most of it published before 1900, alongside a smaller number of modern reference works. Energetic qualities such as warming, cooling, drying and moistening are a traditional framework for describing how a plant behaves in the body, not a laboratory measurement. Where a period source states one, we cite it. Where none does, and for many North American herbs none exists, the value reflects modern herbal consensus rather than a historical text. When we cannot support a caution with real evidence, we say nothing rather than guess.