Motherwort (Leonurus cardiaca).
A bitter mint-family herb taken in the evening for everyday calm and for comfort across the monthly cycle. Its marker constituents are leonurine and stachydrine.
Reviewed March 2026
- Category
- Herb
What Motherwort (Leonurus cardiaca) is, and what it does.
- Does it work
- Suits people who want a traditional bitter calming herb, often blended with valerian, passionflower or lemon balm. Practice excludes it during pregnancy.
- How much to take
- Start with 300mg a day and go up to 900mg, which is the daily band. The 2,000mg used in research is a study condition rather than a daily target.
- Time to feel it
- The bitterness registers on the tongue immediately and gets saliva and stomach juices moving. Anything calmer in how your evenings feel is a matter of weeks of daily use.
- The first dose
- Day one is a sharply bitter mouthful, then more saliva and stomach activity before food. Some people describe a settled evening, and the calmer stretch builds over weeks.
- With regular use
- Traditional practice frames it as weeks of daily use for evening calm and comfort across the monthly cycle. Human trials on those outcomes are few, so the change is a slow one.
- How well tolerated
- Not for use in pregnancy, since it stimulates uterine muscle. If you take heart rhythm, blood pressure or sedating medication, or a blood thinner, clear it with your prescriber.
- How it feels
- Bracingly bitter, which is part of the point. People describe a settled, slightly heavy calm rather than sedation, and it does not blunt alertness the way a sleep aid can.
- The overlooked benefit
- Its stachydrine belongs to the same betaine family as trimethylglycine, which is why motherwort extracts read positive on betaine-class alkaloid tests.
300 to 900mg a day is where Motherwort (Leonurus cardiaca) works.
Source: European Medicines Agency monograph; Ritter et al., Phytomedicine, 2010
The proof, claim by claim.
These words describe the research, not the molecule's worth. Research strength is how much work stands behind one claim, and it is never a product score.
Motherwort (Leonurus cardiaca) has emerging evidence. Based on 46+ studies.
- traditional use for calm and evening wind-downNarrative review
- comfort across the monthly cycleNarrative review
- vasorelaxant and platelet-related activityIn vitro study
- flavonoid antioxidant capacityIn vitro study
- bitter-driven saliva and gastric secretionNarrative review
Questions people ask about Motherwort (Leonurus cardiaca).
- When should I take it?
- Timing matters less than consistency. Pick a time that works for you and take it daily.
- Can I take it with other supplements?
- Usually fine. The main thing to watch is not doubling up on the same ingredient from different products. If you're on prescription meds, check with your pharmacist first.
- Any side effects to watch for?
- Most people tolerate it well at recommended doses. GI upset is the most common complaint with any supplement. Start with a lower dose and work up. If something feels off, stop and reassess.
- Who benefits most from this?
- People who've already covered the basics (diet, sleep, exercise) and want to fine-tune. It's not essential, but could be worthwhile for the right person.
Why these belong in the same formula. Each row says what the basis is, from settled biochemistry through to a trial that measured the pair.
Both act as nervines that lower arousal, valerian through GABAergic tone and motherwort through its alkaloid and iridoid fraction. Sedative effects add, so stacked doses feel stronger than either alone.
Passionflower flavonoids raise GABAergic tone while motherwort settles sympathetic drive. The two are standard partners in traditional calming blends and their effects add.
Lemon balm and motherwort are combined in long-standing practice for a settled mood alongside a steady normal heart rate. Both moderate sympathetic arousal, so the calming effect is additive.
Apigenin from chamomile binds benzodiazepine sites on the GABA-A receptor, a different route from motherwort's. The combined settling effect is stronger than either input.
Magnesium moderates calcium entry in heart and smooth muscle cells, the same normal excitability that motherwort is traditionally used to settle. The mineral covers a cofactor requirement the herb does not.
Honokiol and magnolol act at GABA-A receptors while motherwort works through separate nervine chemistry. Stacking the two deepens the settling effect.
Kavalactones broadly damp central arousal, and layering motherwort on top raises the total sedative load. Worth spacing or lowering doses rather than running both at full strength.
Vitex acts on the pituitary side of normal cycle regulation while motherwort is used as a uterine tonic. The two occupy different points in the same traditional formula.
Both are long-standing uterine tonics used together in women's formulas, and both also carry mild effects on normal platelet aggregation. That second point makes the pairing additive in a way to keep in view.
Black cohosh addresses the vasomotor side of midlife hormonal change while motherwort contributes calm and steady heart rate. They are routinely formulated together.
Leonurine from motherwort has documented mild antiplatelet activity, and EPA shifts platelet eicosanoid output the same way. Together the effect on normal clotting adds.
Motherwort is a traditional relaxing bitter and theanine is a well-characterised amino acid used for calm without heavy sedation. Stacking them raises the total relaxing effect in a way that is generally mild but not zero. There is no combination trial. Read the pairing as formulation logic rather than evidence.
Products aiming at evening calm often pair a relaxing herb with supplemental GABA. Motherwort's traditional use sits in that same category. The additive direction is predictable even though the size is not measured. Combining several sedating ingredients is the situation where daytime drowsiness shows up.
Melatonin signals darkness to the circadian system; motherwort has been used to settle a racing evening state. The two act at different points, which is why they are commonly co-formulated. No trial has measured the pair. Additive drowsiness is the trade-off to watch, particularly with driving.
Ginkgo's terpene lactones interfere with platelet activating factor, and motherwort constituents have shown antiplatelet activity in laboratory work. Combining them, particularly alongside an anticoagulant or before surgery, points in the same direction rather than opposite ones. This is a caution to flag, not a pairing to build a formula around. Anyone on blood-thinning medication should clear both with their prescriber.
Nattokinase acts on fibrin; motherwort constituents have shown platelet effects in laboratory models. The two push the same way. That matters most around surgery, dental work or existing anticoagulant use. Flagged as a caution, not a recommendation.
Garlic's organosulfur compounds and motherwort's alkaloid fraction both point toward lower vascular tone. Someone already on blood-pressure medication and stacking both is the situation to watch. The direction is predictable from each ingredient's own pharmacology; the size of the combined effect is not measured. This is a flag for a prescriber conversation.
Glycyrrhizin inhibits 11-beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 2, which lets cortisol act at the mineralocorticoid receptor and drives sodium and water retention. That pushes blood pressure up, the opposite of what motherwort is traditionally taken for. Deglycyrrhizinated licorice does not carry this effect. The interaction is established pharmacology for licorice rather than a measured pairing.
St John's wort induces CYP3A4 and P-glycoprotein, which speeds the clearance of many co-administered compounds and is one of the most consequential botanical interactions on record. Combining it with another mood-adjacent herb also stacks sedation. Motherwort has no comparable induction profile of its own. The caution belongs to the partner and it travels with any combination.
Taurine is abundant in heart muscle and influences calcium handling and membrane stability; motherwort's traditional role sits in the same product category. They act by different routes, which is why they are combined rather than substituted. No trial has tested the pair. Read it as formulation reasoning.
Coenzyme Q10 supports mitochondrial electron transport in tissues with high energy demand, heart muscle among them. Motherwort brings a separate, traditional role in the same formulas. The two do not share a pathway; the pairing is category logic. There is no combination data.
Magnesium is a cofactor in hundreds of enzymatic reactions and influences NMDA receptor tone and neuromuscular excitability. The glycinate form pairs the mineral with glycine, itself an inhibitory neurotransmitter. Adding motherwort stacks a botanical relaxant on top. Bare magnesium is already stored for this ingredient; this row concerns the glycinate format specifically.
Ashwagandha has human data on subjective stress measures; motherwort's use is traditional. They occupy different roles in a formula, one adaptogenic and one nervine, which is why they co-occur. The additive direction is sedation. Nothing has measured the pair.
Lemon verbena carries verbascoside and other phenylpropanoids and is a traditional calming infusion. Motherwort is bitter and is usually blended with more palatable herbs for exactly that reason. The pairing is as much about taste as about action. No combination evidence exists.
Nothing specific on file for Motherwort (Leonurus cardiaca). Match the label to the daily amount above, and tell your doctor what you take.
Not medical advice. Show the label to your pharmacist.What Motherwort (Leonurus cardiaca) actually does.
Motherwort is the dried aerial part of Leonurus cardiaca, a mint-family plant. Its characteristic constituents are the alkaloids leonurine and stachydrine, together with iridoid glycosides, diterpene lactones and flavonoid glycosides.
Stachydrine is a betaine-type quaternary ammonium compound, the same chemical family as trimethylglycine, which is why motherwort extracts test positive for betaine-class alkaloids.
The plant is markedly bitter. Bitter compounds on the tongue stimulate reflex saliva and gastric secretion, which is the traditional basis for taking it before food and also the reason it is nearly always blended or tinctured rather than taken as a plain infusion.
Flavonoid glycosides such as rutin and hyperoside occur in the aerial parts and contribute the extract's antioxidant capacity measured in laboratory assays. Antioxidant capacity in a tube is a chemical property, not a demonstrated effect in a person.
Where Motherwort (Leonurus cardiaca) comes from.
It is a plant. The leafy flowering tops are cut, dried, and either ground into a powder or soaked in an alcohol and water mix to pull the active compounds out. That liquid is then bottled as a tincture or dried down into an extract powder for capsules.
Made from a plant. What ends up in the capsule tracks the harvest, so batch testing and a stated marker matter more here than with a made molecule.
Cultivated or wild-collected mint-family plant, harvested at flowering when alkaloid and flavonoid content is conventionally considered highest.
Aerial parts are shade or low-temperature dried to stabilise the iridoids and lactones, which degrade with heat and light.
For liquids and dry extracts, milled herb is macerated or percolated in an alcohol-water mixture; the alcohol ratio determines how much of the less polar diterpene fraction is captured.
Marc is pressed off and, for dry extracts, solvent is removed under vacuum at low temperature to limit thermal loss.
Extract batches are assayed against a declared marker, typically a flavonoid or stachydrine, and blended with carrier to hit the label figure.
Dry extract is blended with a flow aid and encapsulated, or the liquid is standardised by ratio and bottled.
Species substitution is a known issue in this genus. A label saying only "motherwort" does not distinguish Leonurus cardiaca from Leonurus japonicus, which is the species used in Chinese practice and has a different constituent profile.
Getting Motherwort (Leonurus cardiaca) from food.
The whole-food sources on file. A supplement closes the gap, it does not replace dinner.
A gram-for-gram figure (how much of each you would eat to match a dose) will appear here once it is sourced and reviewed. This page will not print a number it cannot cite.
The forms it comes in.
The essence, in one line each.
- A laboratory characterisation of six plants including motherwort, profiling their constituents and activity as candidate cardiovascular-relevant botanicals; the work is non-human and does not measure any effect in people.In vitro study. Witkowska et al., 2024 (Nutrients). PMID 38732560 ↗
- A review of non-pharmacological and traditional approaches to heart rhythm that names motherwort among the botanicals used historically, and notes the absence of controlled human trials behind that use.Narrative review. Kanmanthareddy et al., 2015 (Journal of Thoracic Disease). PMID 25713735 ↗
These are the studies our verdict leans on, chosen from the 2 we read for Motherwort (Leonurus cardiaca). The full linked list is below.
FDA Disclaimer: These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This information is for educational purposes only and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Consult your healthcare provider before starting any supplement regimen.