Herb library · Spice · Ruta chalepensis
Fringed rue (tena adam)
A strong-smelling, bitter herb grown in Ethiopian home gardens, where it flavors coffee, sauces and cheese and is one of the most used household remedies. Taken in large amounts to end a pregnancy it has killed women, and its sap can burn the skin in sunlight.
Serious warning
Rue taken to cause an abortion has killed women. A Uruguayan poison center recorded 86 cases of herbal abortion attempts over 14 years; rue (fringed or garden rue) was among the plants most often used, and it was linked to multiple organ failure and to four deaths. Rue sap on the skin followed by sunlight causes blistering burns (phytophotodermatitis).
Traditional use
In Ethiopia its Amharic name is tena adam. PROTA, the handbook of Plant Resources of Tropical Africa, records that fresh leaves flavor kuti, a tea made from coffee leaves, and the spicy berbere sauce, and go into a soft cheese made from sour milk; that a leaf decoction with tea is taken for headache, fever and colds, the sap for stomachache, and the fruit boiled in milk for diarrhea; and that in southern Africa, among the Tswana, a strong decoction was taken to ease childbirth. A 2024 survey of the Gamo people of southern Ethiopia, who call it tselote, recorded it sniffed, burned as a smoke or drunk for asthma, headache, fever and dry cough, and its leaves or seeds boiled with coffee in another remedy for headache.
What studies show
- Insufficient
Headache, fever, stomachache and the other traditional uses: no study of fringed rue in people was found. Its compounds have been studied in the laboratory and in animals.
Be careful of
Cautions
- PregnancyNever take rue as a remedy in pregnancy or while breastfeeding. A 2024 study in eastern Ethiopia found it among the herbs pregnant women use most.
- NoteIts furanocoumarins make skin burn in sunlight. PROTA advises wearing gloves when harvesting it; wash skin that has touched the sap and keep it out of the sun.
- NoteAs a seasoning in coffee, sauce or cheese it is used in small amounts; the harms above come from medicinal doses and from sap on the skin.
- 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.
In scripture
Where the Bible names this plant, and which plant scholars think is meant.
But woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and every herb, but you bypass justice and God’s love. You ought to have done these, and not to have left the other undone.
Tristram (1898) takes the rue here as a garden herb of the Ruta genus, noting that garden rue (Ruta graveolens) was cultivated in Palestine and that the most common wild kind was Ruta bracteosa, which botanists now class as Ruta chalepensis, the herb on this page. The verse itself does not say which rue. H. B. Tristram, The Natural History of the Bible (1898), p. 478 (opens in a new tab)
Sources
- Herbal infusions used for induced abortion (J Toxicol Clin Toxicol, 2003) — PubMed record (opens in a new tab) · NIH · read September 25, 2026
- Rue the herb: Ruta graveolens-associated phytophototoxicity (Dermatitis, 2007) — PubMed record (opens in a new tab) · NIH · read September 25, 2026
- Ruta graveolens phytophotodermatitis (Dermatol Online J, 2021) — PubMed record (opens in a new tab) · NIH · read September 25, 2026
- Association between the use of herbal medicines during pregnancy and adverse fetal outcomes among mothers in eastern Ethiopia, 2023 (Heliyon, 2024) — PubMed record (opens in a new tab) · NIH · read September 25, 2026
- Exploring the genus Ruta: traditional uses, pharmacology, and safety concerns (Planta Med, 2026) — PubMed record (opens in a new tab) · NIH · read September 25, 2026
- Ruta chalepensis — PROTA4U record (uses, properties, management) (opens in a new tab) · PROTA · read September 25, 2026
- Ethnobotanical study of traditional medicinal plants used by the local Gamo people in Boreda Abaya District, Gamo Zone, southern Ethiopia (J Ethnobiol Ethnomed, 2024) — PubMed record (opens in a new tab) · NIH · read September 25, 2026
Reviewed September 25, 2026.