Common Agrimony: Why an Unassuming Roadside Plant Is Suddenly Back in Demand

Unremarkable at the roadside, increasingly interesting in the lab: common agrimony belongs to the plants that stood in nearly every European herb garden for centuries – and that are now being re-examined with modern analytical methods. What research on tannins, flavonoids and the first human studies has gathered about this yellow-flowering meadow plant shows just how much is packed into such an ordinary-looking herb.

What makes common agrimony one of Europe's oldest herbal plants

Agrimonia eupatoria, botanically part of the rose family, grows as a perennial, 30 to 100 centimetre tall herb along roadsides, on nutrient-poor meadows and open woodland margins – from the Azores across all of Europe to western Asia. Its unequally pinnate leaves, with alternating large and small leaflets, are densely grey-haired underneath, and the small yellow flowers form characteristic long spikes. After flowering, cone-shaped fruit calyces with hooked bristles develop that cling to fur and clothing – a clever dispersal mechanism that earned the plant its English names "church steeples" or simply "stickwort".

The parts used are the dried aerial parts gathered during flowering, known in plant science as agrimony herb (Agrimoniae herba). The drug is part of the European Pharmacopoeia, where its quality is defined via total tannin content. The Latin species name eupatoria is thought to reference the plant's old use for liver complaints – an association that remains the subject of pharmacological research today.

An important point for interpreting the research: alongside the common agrimony native to Europe, other species of the genus Agrimonia exist, most notably Agrimonia pilosa, widespread in East Asia. The two species share many constituents but are studied separately, often with different extracts and dosages. Findings on Agrimonia pilosa therefore cannot simply be transferred to Agrimonia eupatoria – a point the cited review articles explicitly make.

Which plant compounds are found in agrimony herb

What chemically defines agrimony is above all its richness in catechin tannins and ellagitannins, led by the compound that gives it its name: agrimoniin. The herb also contains a broad spectrum of flavonoids – luteolin, apigenin, quercetin and kaempferol glycosides, isoquercitrin and rutin have all been repeatedly described. Added to this are phenolic acids such as gallic acid, ellagic acid and caffeic acid, essential oil, triterpenes, and small amounts of mucilage and silica. A 2025 extraction-optimisation study (in vitro) showed that agrimoniin and total phenolic content could be specifically increased through adjusted solvent ratios – an indication of how variable the concentration of active compounds can be depending on preparation.

What the traditional use of agrimony herb covers

Agrimony herb is registered with the European Medicines Agency (EMA/HMPC) as a traditionally used herbal medicine. The recognised traditional use is limited to two areas: internal use for mild diarrhoea, and external use as a gargle or rinse for inflammation of the mouth and throat mucosa and for minor superficial wounds. This classification rests on long-standing use in humans rather than on controlled clinical trials – a distinction that Commission E and ESCOP both make explicit in their respective monographs. Historically the use goes further still: in the Middle Ages agrimony was applied for liver and gallbladder complaints as well as wound care, which makes the later research focus on the liver and gastric mucosa seem less coincidental.

What a clinical study observed in people with elevated liver values

The most informative human study on agrimony to date comes from Cho and colleagues (2018): in a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, 80 adults with mildly to moderately elevated ALT levels (45 to 135 IU/L) received either an aqueous agrimony extract (160 mg daily) or placebo for eight weeks. By the end of the study, the extract group showed a statistically significant reduction in ALT, AST and triglycerides compared with placebo, with good tolerability and no serious adverse events. A smaller human intervention study by Ivanova and colleagues (2013) looked at a different angle: 19 healthy volunteers drank agrimony tea twice daily for one month. By the end of the intervention, total plasma antioxidant capacity was significantly increased, the inflammation marker interleukin-6 significantly decreased, and HDL cholesterol improved. Both studies are small and provide early rather than conclusive evidence – but they point in a consistent direction.

What animal studies show on the liver and gastric mucosa

Preclinical work offers possible explanations for these observations. Huzio and colleagues (2022) examined an ethanolic agrimony extract in rats and described both a pronounced anti-inflammatory effect in the paw-oedema model and a liver-protective effect with reduced transaminase levels and decreased lipid peroxidation – in an extract classified as practically non-toxic. A study published in 2025 in rats with alcohol-induced gastric mucosal damage showed that pre-treatment with agrimony leaf extract reduced ulcer area in a dose-dependent manner, increased mucus production, and raised the activity of the body's own antioxidant enzymes superoxide dismutase and catalase in the gastric mucosa, while the oxidative stress marker malondialdehyde decreased. Both are animal studies and cannot be directly extrapolated to humans, but together they paint a coherent picture of possible mechanisms: antioxidant, inflammation-modulating and mucosa-protective.

What laboratory research observes on anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties

At the cellular level, this picture continues to build. Santos and colleagues (2017) characterised an aqueous agrimony infusion and its polyphenol-enriched fraction and observed, both in vitro (in LPS-stimulated macrophages) and in an animal model, an inhibition of pro-inflammatory messengers such as nitric oxide, along with a pain-relieving effect in the writhing and formalin tests in mice. The radical-scavenging capacity of the extracts against a range of reactive oxygen and nitrogen species was confirmed repeatedly and attributed to the polyphenol-rich fraction. These findings come exclusively from laboratory and animal models; they describe mechanisms of action at the cellular level, not proven effects in humans.

Study	Study type	Observation
Cho et al., 2018	RCT (human, n=80)	Significant reduction in ALT, AST and triglycerides after 8 weeks
Ivanova et al., 2013	Human intervention study (n=19)	Increased antioxidant capacity, lowered interleukin-6, improved HDL
Huzio et al., 2022	Animal study (preclinical)	Anti-inflammatory and liver-protective effects at low toxicity
Shareef et al., 2025	Animal study (preclinical)	Smaller ulcer area, more mucus production, higher SOD/CAT activity
Santos et al., 2017	In vitro & animal study	Inhibition of pro-inflammatory messengers, pain-relieving effects
Sukackas et al., 2025	In vitro	Optimised extraction increases agrimoniin, phenolic content and antioxidant capacity

Safety and use of agrimony herb

For a traditional tea, one to two teaspoons of dried herb are usually infused in about 150 to 250 ml of boiling water and left to steep for ten minutes, typically taken two to three times daily. In its customary preparations, agrimony is considered well tolerated; mild stomach upset is occasionally reported. Because of its high tannin content, taking it alongside other medicines at the same time may reduce their absorption in the gastrointestinal tract, so leaving a gap of at least one to two hours is advisable. There is insufficient data on safety and dosage during pregnancy, breastfeeding and childhood, so use is not recommended in these situations. For diarrhoea lasting more than two to three days, blood in the stool, fever, or in children, medical advice should always be sought, since the traditional use is intended solely for mild, short-term complaints. For external use as a gargle, a somewhat more concentrated infusion is typically used, cooled and applied several times daily to rinse the mouth and throat.

How the current body of evidence should be read

An honest look at the evidence is part of a sound assessment: the HMPC itself explicitly notes in its assessment report the lack of controlled clinical trials at the time the monograph was drawn up – the traditional use rests on long-standing experience, not on randomised trials. The studies published since, above all Cho and colleagues' work on liver values, close this gap only partly and remain limited in scope and sample size. Replication with larger cohorts, longer observation periods and standardised extracts is still needed. Anyone following this plant out of interest in current research should keep this distinction between traditional registration and clinically proven effect in mind.

Where tradition and research on agrimony are converging

Common agrimony illustrates well how centuries-old herbal tradition and modern analytical science are increasingly meeting. Its traditional use for diarrhoea and in the mouth and throat area is clearly outlined and regulated through the HMPC monograph. Alongside this, current research – from extraction chemistry through animal models to the first small human studies – is systematically investigating which mechanisms might lie behind this long history of use. The observations on liver values and gastric mucosa in particular are consistent enough to justify further, larger-scale studies. Until then, agrimony remains what it has long been: an unassuming meadow plant with a strikingly varied history.

This article is intended for general information about botanical topics and does not replace medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. If you have health concerns, please consult a doctor or pharmacist.