Stone-Crop, Prick-Madam, Or Small-Houseleek

Sedum acre

HRB-0285Entry “STONE-CROP, PRICK-MADAM, OR SMALL-HOUSELEEK” in the 1850 textNot in the 1652 first edition: added by Culpeper in 1653 or by a later editor up to 1850

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 concernPeppery alkaloids: usually mild stomach upset; the fresh plant can blister skin.EFSA: sedacrineEFSA’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.

What it does, in Culpeper: Counter-poison

Culpeper’s claims about it: 8, under 8 headings

  1. AguesCLM-000052
    It expels poison much, resists pestilential fevers, being exceeding good also for tertian agues:
    QUO-000052Papers and the EMA’s verdict, in the Concordance
  2. CankersCLM-000420
    It stops bleeding, both inward and outward, helps cankers, and all fretting sores and ulcers;
    QUO-000354Papers and the EMA’s verdict, in the Concordance
  3. FeversCLM-000768
    It expels poison much, resists pestilential fevers, being exceeding good also for tertian agues:
    QUO-000052Papers and the EMA’s verdict, in the Concordance
  4. Fevers — (Pestilential)CLM-000779
    It expels poison much, resists pestilential fevers, being exceeding good also for tertian agues:
    QUO-000052Papers and the EMA’s verdict, in the Concordance
  5. King’s-evilCLM-001122
    Being bruised and applied to the place, it helps the king’s evil, and any other knots or kernels in the flesh;
    QUO-000805Papers and the EMA’s verdict, in the Concordance
  6. PilesCLM-0013731850 index
    as also the piles.
    QUO-000930Papers and the EMA’s verdict, in the Concordance
  7. Poison (to expel)CLM-001421
    It expels poison much, resists pestilential fevers, being exceeding good also for tertian agues:
    QUO-000052Papers and the EMA’s verdict, in the Concordance
  8. UlcersCLM-002011
    It stops bleeding, both inward and outward, helps cankers, and all fretting sores and ulcers;
    QUO-000354Papers 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.