Abortion (Culpeper says it causes)

CND-0001Women and childbirth

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A heading of ours (added October 2026), not the 1850 index’s. It holds sentences the index would have filed under “Abortion, (to prevent)”, read for direction: here Culpeper says the plant causes or harms, or the index heading did not fit.

Modern reading: miscarriage. Searched in PubMed as each plant’s Latin name with miscarriage OR "abortion, spontaneous" OR "threatened abortion". The counts and papers are on the Concordance page.

Old claims, quoted verbatim: not medical advice. A warning sits above the claims and never hides them; no warning does not mean safe, only that no source here has flagged the plant.

⚠ Culpeper says each of these causes abortion or early delivery. This heading is ours: a keyword search had filed them under “Abortion (to prevent)”. They are listed so his words stay on record, not as a remedy. Plants taken to end a pregnancy have killed women, pennyroyal, tansy and rue among them.

4 claims: 4 with a sentence, 0 from the index alone

1. Fern Dryopteris filix-masCLM-000003

   They are dangerous for women with child to meddle with, by reason they cause abortions.

   QUO-000003Papers and the EMA’s verdict, in the ConcordanceCopy permanent linkCopy citation
2. Ground Pine, Or Chamepitys Ajuga chamaepitysCLM-000005

   yea, it is so powerful upon those feminine parts, that it is utterly forbidden for women with child, for it will cause abortion or delivery before the time.

   QUO-000005Papers and the EMA’s verdict, in the ConcordanceCopy permanent linkCopy citation
3. Stinking Gladwin Iris foetidissimaCLM-000004

   The root boiled in wine and drank, doth effectually procure women’s courses, and used as a pessary, works the same effect, but causes abortion in women with child.

   QUO-000004Papers and the EMA’s verdict, in the ConcordanceCopy permanent linkCopy citation
4. The Bay Tree Laurus nobilisCLM-000001

   they likewise procure women’s courses, and seven of them given to woman in sore travail of child-birth, do cause a speedy delivery, and expel the after-birth, and therefore not to be taken by such as have not gone out their time, lest they procure abortion, or cause labour too soon.

   QUO-000001Papers and the EMA’s verdict, in the ConcordanceCopy permanent linkCopy citation

Source

Nicholas Culpeper, The Complete Herbal, a new edition (London: Thomas Kelly, 1850). Project Gutenberg eBook #49513. SRC-CUL-1850