Privet

Ligustrum vulgare

HRB-0237Entry “PRIVET” in the 1850 textIn Culpeper’s 1652 first edition

Open in the Concordance

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.

Substance of concernThe berries.EFSA: Secoiridoid glucosidesEFSA’s list of substances, not a danger rating. Checked 26 October 2026.

Historical correspondence. Ruled by Moon, by Culpeper. A traditional astrological assignment, kept apart from the modern evidence; it is not a finding.

Culpeper’s claims about it: 7, under 7 headings, 1 where he says it harms or causes

  1. as all those that void blood at the mouth, or any other place, and for distillations of rheum in the eyes, especially if it be used with them.
    QUO-000160Papers and the EMA’s verdict, in the Concordance
  2. Bloody FluxCLM-000239
    There is a sweet water also distilled from the flowers, that is good for all those diseases that need cooling and drying, and therefore helps all fluxes of the belly or stomach, bloody-fluxes, and women’s courses, being either drank or applied;
    QUO-000205Papers and the EMA’s verdict, in the Concordance
  3. Head — AcheCLM-0023301850 index, p. 146
    He further saith, That the oil that is made of the flowers of Privet infused therein, and set in the Sun, is singularly good for the inflammations of wounds, and for the headache, coming of a hot cause.
    QUO-001386Papers and the EMA’s verdict, in the Concordance
  4. InflammationsCLM-000949
    It is little used in physic with us in these times, more than in lotions, to wash sores and sore mouths, and to cool inflammations, and dry up fluxes.
    QUO-000722Papers and the EMA’s verdict, in the Concordance
  5. Nervous ComplaintsCLM-0023761850 index, pp. 230, 356, 363

    Listed in the 1850 index; the herbal entry has no sentence naming this complaint. No quotation is recorded.

  6. StomachCLM-001636
    There is a sweet water also distilled from the flowers, that is good for all those diseases that need cooling and drying, and therefore helps all fluxes of the belly or stomach, bloody-fluxes, and women’s courses, being either drank or applied;
    QUO-000205Papers and the EMA’s verdict, in the Concordance
  7. WoundsCLM-002229
    He further saith, That the oil that is made of the flowers of Privet infused therein, and set in the Sun, is singularly good for the inflammations of wounds, and for the headache, coming of a hot cause.
    QUO-001386Papers and the EMA’s verdict, in the Concordance

Source

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

Quotations are verbatim from the 1850 text, line breaks joined. Modern research and the European regulator’s verdict on each claim are on the Concordance page, kept apart from this historical record.