Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis): Traditional Uses & Safety

At a glance

Botanical name: Rosmarinus officinalis
Family: Lamiaceae
Part used: Leaf
Taste: Pungent, Bitter
Temperature: Warm
Moisture: Dry

Taught in Eden's Table

Sprouts (grades K-2), Week 15

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

Safety at a glance

In pregnancy

Culinary safe; therapeutic doses caution

While breastfeeding

Moderate culinary use safe; avoid high medicinal doses during breastfeeding (traditional anti-galactagogue in large doses).

For children

Culinary safe; therapeutic doses avoid under 12

Cautions

Avoid high doses in hypertension; avoid with epilepsy; avoid essential oil internally

General contraindications

Culinary safe; avoid therapeutic doses

Stewardship

Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis / Salvia rosmarinus) is Mediterranean-cultivated; easy garden perennial in zone 7+. Stewardship: 'rosemary for remembrance' (Ophelia, Shakespeare) — teaching the plants as cultural memory preserves more than medicine.

In the traditional record

Rosemary (Salvia rosmarinus) — bearing the traditional name "dew of the sea" (ros marinus); long associated with remembrance and fidelity in European tradition (Shakespeare: "rosemary, that's for remembrance"); cultivated in monastic and Christian household gardens and recorded by Hildegard von Bingen, Banckes' Herbal (1525), and Culpeper.

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Take the free assessment Open Rosemary in the Apothecary

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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.