Eden Apothecary · Herb Profile
Eclipta prostrata
Pronounced Bhringaraj: BRING-guh-raj (also bring-uh-RAHJ). Eclipta prostrata: ee-KLIP-tuh pross-TRAY-tuh. Han Lian Cao: hahn lyen tsow.
A warming, drying, restorative bitter: the rasayana 'king of hair' that regenerates a depleted, torpid liver and the hair, blood, and mind it governs, though the Chinese and Western traditions read the same plant as a cooling yin tonic.
Avoid unless directed by a qualified practitioner. Controlled human safety data in pregnancy are essentially absent. Three converging concerns support avoidance: the plant's coumestan constituents (wedelolactone) are weak phytoestrogens with theoretical hormonal and uterine activity; the Chinese materia medica explicitly contraindicates Eclipta (Han Lian Cao) in pregnancy; and modern monographs advise against use in pregnancy because of the demonstrated hepatotoxic potential at very high doses (Restorative Medicine monograph, Eclipta alba/prostrata; Bensky, Clavey and Stoger, Chinese Herbal Medicine: Materia Medica, Han Lian Cao; AHPA Botanical Safety Handbook). No safety margin is established, so avoidance is the prudent verdict.
Insufficient data; best avoided or used only under qualified supervision. The evidence is conflicting: some Ayurvedic tradition uses Bhringaraja in postpartum and pediatric formulas, whereas the Chinese materia medica contraindicates the herb in nursing and the modern Restorative Medicine monograph advises avoiding it during lactation because of potential liver toxicity at high doses. With no controlled lactation data and a phytoestrogenic constituent, prefer better-studied alternatives while breastfeeding (Restorative Medicine monograph; Bensky, Clavey and Stoger, Materia Medica).
Traditionally given to children in Ayurvedic practice at low doses (for the liver and as a hair oil), and topical scalp oil is low-risk, but modern controlled pediatric safety data are lacking. Use internally only under qualified supervision at low, weight-adjusted doses (roughly half the adult amount), avoid high or prolonged dosing given the dose-dependent hepatotoxicity seen in animals, and do not use in infants without professional guidance (Restorative Medicine monograph; classical Ayurvedic pediatric usage).
Generally well tolerated at customary doses, with no adverse effects reported at the usual 250 mg to 2 g of powder. It is drying and warming by the classical Ushna virya, so in hot, Pitta-excess constitutions it is best combined with cooling, unctuous herbs to avoid aggravating heat or dryness (the Chinese and Western traditions instead class it as cooling). Animal studies show a biphasic, dose-dependent effect on the liver, with hepatotoxicity only at very high doses, so it should be taken at customary amounts and not in megadoses, particularly in existing liver disease. As an Asteraceae (daisy-family) plant it can rarely provoke allergy or contact dermatitis in sensitive people. It lowers blood glucose and stimulates bile flow (see Drug Interactions and Contraindications).
Pregnancy and lactation (precautionary; see safety fields). Biliary obstruction or gallstones (it stimulates bile flow). Known Asteraceae (Compositae) allergy. Caution with concurrent antidiabetic drugs (additive hypoglycemia), with immunosuppressant therapy (immunomodulatory action), and in significant liver disease at high doses. In TCM terms: Spleen deficiency with cold or diarrhea, and Kidney yang deficiency.
No conservation concern. Eclipta prostrata is one of the most common weeds of wet ground, ditches, rice paddies, pond margins, and riverbanks throughout the tropics and subtropics of Asia and the Americas, and is easily cultivated. It regrows readily and is frequently pulled as a nuisance weed, so wild collection carries no sustainability burden. Not listed by United Plant Savers (a North American native-plant registry).
Not in canonical biblical texts, and unknown to the ancient Mediterranean herbals; Eclipta prostrata is a pantropical weed native to warm regions of Asia and the Americas. Its documented tradition is twofold: Ayurvedic, where as Bhringaraja ('king of hair') it appears in the classical Samhitas (Charaka, Sushruta) and the Bhavaprakasha Nighantu among the Rasayana (rejuvenative) and Keshya (hair) herbs; and Chinese, where the same plant is Han Lian Cao / Mo Han Lian, a Liver and Kidney yin tonic of the traditional materia medica.
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