Herb library · Herb · Stellaria media
Chickweed
A small, soft garden weed eaten as a wild green and used in old herbal poultices and ointments for sore or inflamed skin. It has not been tested in people for any use.
Traditional use
A common weed of gardens and fields in Europe and North America. Old herbals used the fresh herb as a cooling poultice or ointment for sores, swellings, itching and inflamed eyes; Culpeper boiled it with rose leaves into a rub for cramped sinews. It is still foraged as a wild green; it is one of the wild plants used in the New Nordic Diet.
Traditional energetics
Galenic (hot or cold, dry or moist)
Cold and moist. Culpeper's Complete Herbal (1814), p. 230 (opens in a new tab)
What studies show
- Insufficient
Skin and other uses: a search of PubMed found no trials of chickweed in people. A 2012 study of its juice in mice on a high-fat diet found less weight gain, which has not been tested in people.
Be careful of
Cautions
- AllergyHandling the fresh plant has caused a skin reaction: in a 2003 case report, a gardener's recurring rash was reproduced by patch testing with fresh chickweed leaves, along with several other weeds.
- NoteEaten as a wild green, a 2012 safety review judged chickweed's natural chemicals mostly comparable to those in ordinary vegetables, but said more study is needed before eating large amounts every day can be called safe.
- Ask a clinicianTalk with a clinician or pharmacist before using this if you take prescription medicines, are pregnant or breastfeeding, or are giving it to a child.
From the old books
What herbals and dispensaries of the past printed. History, in their words.
“The seeds are eaten by poultry and birds. The whole herb is used, when recent.”
Sources
- Safety evaluation of some wild plants in the New Nordic Diet (Food Chem Toxicol, 2012) (opens in a new tab) · NIH · read September 25, 2026
- Erythema multiforme due to contact with weeds: a recurrence after patch testing (Contact Dermatitis, 2003) (opens in a new tab) · NIH · read September 25, 2026
- Quality assessment and anti-obesity activity of Stellaria media (Linn.) Vill. (BMC Complement Altern Med, 2012) (opens in a new tab) · NIH · read September 25, 2026
- PubMed search: Stellaria media or chickweed, studies in people (opens in a new tab) · NIH · read September 25, 2026
Reviewed September 25, 2026.