Motherwort

Leonurus cardiaca

Snapshot

Indications	Contraindications
Nervous tension¹ Nervous palpitations¹ Postpartum bleeding (injection)^{2, 3} Post-abortion bleeding (injection)^{4, 5}	Pregnancy^{1, 6} Hypersensitivity to motherwort¹

Motherwort (Leonurus cardiaca) is the aerial part of a perennial plant, with mild sedative, blood-pressure-lowering, and heart-rate-slowing effects attributed to it⁷. People take it for nervous tension and nervous palpitations, which the European Medicines Agency herbal monograph classes as traditional uses resting on long-standing practice, not trials¹. The monograph limits the palpitation use to cases where a physician has excluded serious conditions¹. The related species Leonurus japonicus is used in Chinese obstetric practice to prevent postpartum bleeding.

Human research is limited to about five small trials, mostly of motherwort injection for postpartum and post-abortion bleeding, plus one in anxious subjects. Meta-analyses of randomized trials found lower blood loss when Leonurus japonicus injection was added to oxytocin after cesarean section, vaginal delivery, and induced abortion^{2, 3, 5}. The vaginal delivery and post-abortion analyses graded this evidence low to very low quality^{3, 5}. A 2025 study combining hospital records, a meta-analysis, and a rat model reported lower hemorrhage risk with the combination and identified stachydrine as the principal active component⁸. Products listing motherwort number 289 in the United States label database, mostly liquid tinctures; see Form comparison.

The monograph contraindicates pregnancy¹; separately, stachydrine raised calcium in human uterine smooth muscle cells in vitro. Health Canada labels ask for a practitioner's advice if symptoms persist or worsen⁹.

Last updated October 16, 2026. Read how we make monographs.

In the full monograph

32 sources, 18 studies

When to useThe situations practitioners use it for, each with the reason and the study behind it.
SafetyWho should avoid it, who needs extra care, and the side effects reported in studies.
InteractionsThe medicines and supplements it interacts with, the effect of each, and what labeling says to watch.
Protocol notesThe doses used in studies, how and when they were taken, and how the forms on the market compare.
How it worksWhat it is and how it works in the body, in plain terms.
Published studiesThe studies behind each use, popular claims checked against them, and trials still under way.
Word of mouthWhat patients and practitioners report online, kept separate from the clinical evidence.
Clinical perspectiveA closing read of where the evidence is solid, where it is thin, and what has not been studied.

Snapshot

In the full monograph

Sources