Agrimony is a natural healing product which has long been well known to all country folk. It has long been abundant throughout England in the fields and woods, and has long been a popular domestic medicinal herb.

It is part of the Rose order of plants, and it blossoms from June to September, sporting small yellow flowers, which lie close along slender spikes about a foot high., They smell a bit like apricots, and, are called by the common name "Church Steeples".

Agrimony Herb C/S Wildcrafted
As a botanical, it is known as Agrimonia Eupatoria, Agrimonia being derived from the Greek, means "shining," because the herb is thought to cure cataract of the eye. The second part of the name, Eupatoria, refers to the liver, indicating the use of this plant for curing diseases of that organ.

Chemists have concluded that Agrimony possesses a particular volatile oil, and yields nearly 5% of tannin, so that its use as a natural gargle, and as an astringent application to wounds, is well established in folklore.

However, the herb does not seem really to any medicinal value for the liver.

Most probably, the yellow color of its flowers, which, with the root, make a dye of a bright nankeen hue, has made is "seem" relevant in treating bilious disorders, according to the doctrine of signatures, since bile is also yellow.

Premier herbalist, John Gerard (c. 1545–1612) said: "A decoction of the leaves is good for them that have naughty livers."

A gargle may be made by pouring a pint of boiling water over a handful of the plant—stems, flowers and leaves. A cupful of the same tea may be taken cold three or four times in the day for diarrhea and mild blood loss.

In France, Agrimony tea was used as a common beverage at the table.

This herb also was an ingredient of arquebusade water, used on wounds inflicted by an arquebus, or hand-gun, and was even mentioned by Philip de Comines (1447 - 1511) in his account of the battle of Morat, in 1476.

When the Yeomen of the Guard were first formed in England by Henry VII, in 1485, half were armed with bows and arrows, while the other half carried arquebuses.

In France, for many decades, the eau de arquebusade was also applied for sprains and bruises, being carefully made from many aromatic herbs.

Agrimony was at one time included in the London Materia Medica as a vulnerary herb. It is also known as Cockleburr, or Sticklewort, because its seed vessels cling by the hooked ends of their stiff hairs to any person or animal coming into contact with the plant. A strong brew of the root and leaves, sweetened with honey, has been used successfully to cure scrofulous sores, being administered two or three times a day in doses of a wineglassful regularly for several months.

It is believed that the volatile oil of the plant, combined with that contained in other aromatic herbs, is curatively antiseptic. Pliny called agrimony an herb "of princely authoritie."

Hemp Agrimony, or St. John's Herb, grows on the margins of brooks, and has hemp-like leaves, which are bitter and pungent. Because of these hemp-like leaves it was formerly called "Holy Rope," being named after the rope with which Jesus was bound. They also contain a volatile oil, which acts on the kidneys; likewise some tannin, and a bitter chemical principle, which will cut short the chill of intermittent fever, or perhaps prevent it.

Testing of the plant have shown it produces a sick, or nauseated, fever, with severe headache, redness of the face, soreness around the liver, constipation, and bright yellow urine. As a result of this, a tincture, prepared from the whole plant, is often given in frequent, small, well-diluted doses with water for influenza, or for a similar feverish chill, with ague, fainting, hot dry skin, and vomiting.

By the same token, a tea made with boiling water poured on the dried leaves will give prompt relief if taken hot at the onset of nausea, or of influenza.

Hemp Agrimony is named Eupatorium because it refers, as Pliny says, to Eupator, a king of Pontus.

In Holland it was customarily used for jaundice, and swollen feet: and, in colonial America it was grouped with Bonesets. It grows in moist, shady places, has a tall reddish stem, with terminal crowded heads of dull lilac flowers. Its distinctive title is Cannabinum, or "Hempen", while it is also known by some as "Thoroughwort".