Educational information, not medical advice — ask your doctor or midwife.
Aloysia citrodora is lemon verbena, a shrub with strongly lemon-scented leaves. The dried leaves are brewed as a tea and used to flavour food. Capsules, liquid extracts and an essential oil are also sold.
The plant is native to South America, mainly Argentina, Chile and Peru. Spanish and Portuguese traders carried it to Europe in the 1700s. It is now grown around the Mediterranean and in home gardens worldwide.
People drink it to settle the stomach, to calm down and to sleep better. The honest verdict: human evidence is thin and mostly from small studies.
A few small trials point to effects on muscle soreness and sleep quality. None of this is settled. Long traditional use is not proof that a plant works, and it is not proof that it is safe.
No one has shown clearly how lemon verbena acts in the body. Most of what is claimed comes from test tubes and animals.
In laboratory tests, extracts of the leaf mop up reactive molecules called free radicals. In animal studies, the extract appears to lower markers of inflammation and muscle damage.
One compound, verbascoside, has been shown in cell studies to block certain inflammatory signals. Whether any of this happens at the dose in a cup of tea is not known.
The calming effect people report may owe something to citral and the ritual of a warm drink. That split has not been teased apart in people.
Lemon verbena is sold in several forms:
- Loose dried leaf and tea bags, the most common use - Fresh leaves, used in cooking and drinks - Capsules and tablets of dried extract, often standardised to verbascoside - Liquid extracts and tinctures in alcohol - Essential oil, for scent and for diluted use on skin
Tea and culinary use are the best-tested in everyday terms. The essential oil is a very different product. It is far more concentrated and is not a food.
True lemon verbena oil is costly, so some products labelled "verbena" contain lemongrass or Spanish verbena oil instead. Check the Latin name on the label.
Indigenous peoples in the Andes and the Southern Cone used the leaves as a tea long before Europeans recorded it. It was taken for upset stomach, wind and nerves.
Spanish botanists brought the plant to Europe in the late 1700s. It spread fast as a garden plant and a perfume ingredient.
In France and Spain it became a standard evening tisane, drunk after meals. North African and Middle Eastern tea blends took it up too.
These are records of what people did, not evidence that it helped them.
Stop and get urgent medical help if you have swelling of the lips, face or throat, wheezing, or trouble breathing. These can be signs of a serious allergic reaction.
See your doctor soon if you get a spreading skin rash, lasting nausea, or pain in your side or back after using it regularly.
Book an appointment rather than continuing on tea if sleep problems, stomach pain or low mood last more than two weeks. Tell your doctor about any supplement you take before surgery.
In the United States, lemon verbena is accepted as a food flavouring and sold as a dietary supplement. In the UK and the EU it is sold as a food, herbal tea and food supplement. It is not approved as a medicine in these places, so products cannot claim to treat disease.
Evidence grades and traditional-use labels are explained in our methodology. Nothing here is medical advice.
What it is typically used for, usual dose, cautions, and the study behind it where real trial data exists.
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