Lovage: What's Really Behind the Humble "Maggi Herb"

In the 9th century, Charlemagne ordered by imperial decree that it be grown in every garden of his empire. Today it's mostly known as "Maggi herb" – and modern research is only now uncovering just how chemically complex its roots really are.

How an unassuming member of the carrot family became a fixture of European herb gardens

Lovage (Levisticum officinale) belongs to the carrot family (Apiaceae), making it botanically related to celery, parsley, fennel, and carrot – a kinship that also shows up in its aroma. The perennial plant, which can grow up to two metres tall, originally comes from the mountain regions of Western Asia and the eastern Mediterranean, but was brought to Central Europe as early as antiquity. Its importance to early medieval agriculture is well documented: the Capitulare de villis, an estate ordinance issued by Charlemagne in the 9th century, explicitly lists lovage among the plants that were to be cultivated in every imperial garden.

The German name "Liebstöckel" has nothing to do with "Liebe" (love) despite appearances – it's a folk-etymological reshaping of the Latin genus name, which in turn traces back to "ligusticus" (Ligurian), since the plant was long associated with the Liguria region. The nickname "Maggi herb" is considerably more recent and refers to the plant's striking flavour resemblance to the well-known seasoning sauce, even though that product's flavour actually derives from different compounds. In the 11th-century cosmetic treatise of Trotula de Ruggiero, one of the oldest European texts on women's health, lovage is already mentioned for skin care – a reminder of how long the plant has been used beyond the kitchen.

As a garden plant, lovage remains widespread in Central European farmhouse and monastery gardens today: the perennial is frost-hardy and undemanding about its site, as long as the soil is nutrient-rich and well-drained. Depending on the intended use, different parts of the plant are harvested – the young leaves and stems serve mainly as a culinary herb in soups and stews, while traditional applications rely exclusively on the root (Levistici radix), dug in autumn and dried. This distinction between culinary and traditional medicinal use matters, since the concentration of the compounds relevant to traditional use differs considerably between leaf and root.

What compounds are found in lovage root?

The root is the pharmaceutically relevant part of the plant, and its quality is defined in the European Pharmacopoeia (Ph. Eur.). Its composition is complex and has been the subject of several analytical studies in recent years that have mapped individual compound groups in detail for the first time.

Compound group	Examples	Note
Essential oil	Ligustilide, butylphthalide and other phthalides	Major contributor to the characteristic smell
Coumarins	Furanocoumarins (including psoralen derivatives)	Relevant to photosensitivity, see safety section
Phenolic acids & flavonoids	Vanillic acid, various flavones	Leaves contain higher levels than the root
Organic acids	Malic acid, angelic acid	Traditionally associated with digestive support

A 2022 LC-MS analysis systematically mapped the coumarin profile of lovage root and examined how stable individual compounds remain during post-harvest storage – a methodologically solid but purely analytical study with no findings on physiological effects in humans. A Spanish-Portuguese research group also compared hydroalcoholic extracts from leaves, roots, and the whole plant in 2025: leaf extracts showed the highest phenolic content and the strongest antioxidant activity in laboratory assays (DPPH, ABTS) – an in-vitro investigation aimed at possible dermato-cosmetic applications, not at oral intake.

What is lovage root traditionally used for?

Germany's Commission E and the European Committee on Herbal Medicinal Products (HMPC) have classified lovage root as a traditional herbal medicinal product based on long-standing experience – a category that explicitly does not require evidence of efficacy from clinical trials, but rests on documented traditional use of at least 30 years, of which at least 15 within the EU. The recognised traditional use is: to increase urine output and thereby help flush the urinary tract in mild urinary complaints, and to support the prevention of kidney gravel. The root is also listed as a component of diuretic tea blends (Species diureticae) intended for flushing therapy.

The HMPC monograph explicitly notes that no clinical studies in humans supporting this use are available. In a 2021 addendum, the HMPC reviewed the evidence again and concluded that no new findings warranted a revision of the monograph – the "traditional use" classification, without a clinical evidence base, therefore remains current. In folk medicine, lovage has also been used as a carminative (against flatulence), as an antispasmodic, and, in the Middle Ages, as an emmenagogue – applications based on experiential knowledge that modern reviews of botanical diuretic research classify as traditional but not clinically established.

What researchers have been uncovering in lovage root in recent years

Clinical trials in humans are still nowhere to be found for lovage – but the laboratory is a different story. Chemists have been digging deeper into the root for several years now, and some of what has surfaced reads like a small discovery story.

In 2020, an Iranian research team isolated a compound from lovage root that had never before appeared in any scientific database: 7-methoxy-3-propylidenephthalide, alongside two already-known relatives. Tested in the lab against four bacterial strains, one of the three compounds showed something particularly sought-after in antibiotic research – activity against a vancomycin-resistant strain of Enterococcus faecium, plus Staphylococcus aureus and E. coli. This is a laboratory study using isolated pure compounds, not a statement about the effect of lovage as an extract or tea. But it shows that this unassuming kitchen root harbours chemistry that could genuinely interest drug researchers.

A further Iranian team pushed the inquiry a step further in 2024, exposing two human colon cancer cell lines (HT-29 and Caco-2) to a leaf extract and observing how the cells responded – with anti-inflammatory effects and with apoptosis, the programmed cell death that is a central research target in cancer biology. This is an early cell-culture experiment that, on its own, says nothing yet about any effect inside the human body. But it raises exactly the question that further research would need to answer next: does this cellular behaviour hold up in animal models, and eventually in controlled human trials?

Rounding out the picture are analytical studies mapping the plant's inner chemistry in ever finer detail: the full coumarin signature of the root (2022), and a detailed comparison of leaf, root, and whole-plant extracts that found notably high antioxidant activity in the leaves (2025). Together, these point to a plant whose traditional reputation is now being followed by a growing, still-young line of research – with an open question about where it leads.

What should be considered when using lovage?

In the amounts typical of culinary or herbal-tea use, lovage is generally considered well tolerated; no serious adverse effects are documented. Still, a few points are worth noting:

• Kidney conditions: Use is explicitly discouraged in acute inflammatory conditions of the kidney parenchyma, as well as in cardiac or nephrogenic oedema – the flushing effect could be counterproductive or burdensome in these cases.
• Pregnancy and breastfeeding: According to the HMPC monograph, insufficient experience data exist for these periods and for adolescents under 18, so use is not recommended.
• Photosensitivity: The furanocoumarins present may promote phototoxic skin reactions (redness, irritation) with intense sun or UV exposure. This concern is based on the compound class as such; controlled clinical studies quantifying this risk under typical use of the herb are not available in the current literature.
• Interactions: The HMPC monograph lists no known drug interactions. Some secondary sources nonetheless point to a theoretical interplay with oral anticoagulants, derived from the coumarin compound class, though this is not supported by clinical data.

Those wishing to prepare lovage as a tea typically use about 2 to 3 g of cut root per 150 ml of boiling water, steeped for 10 to 15 minutes, taken several times a day. Anyone with existing kidney conditions, who is pregnant or breastfeeding, or who is taking medication should seek medical or pharmacist advice before use.

Lovage at a glance: an old plant with a young, promising research chapter

Botanically and culturally, lovage is one of the better-documented plants of European gardens – its recorded history spans from the Carolingian estate ordinance to medieval women's medicine. The regulatory-recognised traditional use as a mild flushing agent for mild urinary complaints rests on this long experience, explicitly not on clinical efficacy trials in humans. That's exactly where recent research picks up: phthalides with measurable antibacterial activity in the lab, an increasingly detailed picture of the root's coumarin and phenolic chemistry, and early cell-culture experiments showing anti-inflammatory effects together sketch a plant that chemically appears to have more going on than centuries of kitchen wisdom alone would suggest. Whether and how these laboratory findings hold up in controlled human trials remains one of the more interesting open questions in current phytoresearch. Until then, lovage remains what it has been since Charlemagne's imperial gardens: a plant with a rich tradition whose full scientific story is still being written.

This article is for general information only and does not replace medical or pharmaceutical advice. Anyone with health concerns or existing conditions, who is pregnant or breastfeeding, or considering use in children and adolescents, should seek medical or pharmacist advice before use.