Teucrium viscidum
StarTeucrium viscidum
Safety at a glance
No rule in our tables for this herb: pregnancy, breastfeeding, incompatible pairs (十八反 / 十九畏), herb–drug, dose ceiling. This is not a safety clearance.
Not graded — No toxicity grade is recorded. Most herbs in the catalogue carry none.
Traditionally used for
- Skin
Cautions & contraindications
- Liver conditions
- Diabetes
Western Herbalism Properties
Botanical Description
Teucrium viscidum is a perennial herb of the mint family (Lamiaceae) widely distributed through East and Southeast Asia, including much of China, Japan, Korea, the Himalayas, India, Myanmar, Indonesia and the Philippines. It grows from creeping rhizomes into erect or ascending square stems 30 to 70 centimetres tall, the upper parts glandular and somewhat sticky, which gives the plant its name. The opposite, ovate, stalked leaves have coarsely toothed margins. The small flowers are borne in slender terminal and axillary racemes; as in all germanders the corolla lacks an upper lip, so that the five lobes form a single forward-projecting lower lip, typically white to pale pink, providing a platform for visiting insects. The fruit comprises four small nutlets. It grows in shaded, moist habitats such as forest floors, streamsides, thickets and damp grassy banks. Like other Teucrium species it can cause liver toxicity.
Active Constituents
Teucvin
Furanoid norclerodane diterpeneConcentration: Not quantified in any published assay of commercial material
The compound that defines this plant's safety profile. It was first isolated and its stereochemistry settled from Teucrium viscidum var. miquelianum by Fujita and colleagues, and it belongs to the same furan-containing clerodane class as teucrin A, the constituent responsible for germander hepatotoxicity. The clinicians who reported the human hepatitis case attributed the injury to this shared chemistry. Its presence should be read as a hazard, not as an activity.
Teuflin (6-epiteucvin)
Furanoid norclerodane diterpeneConcentration: Not quantified
An epimer of teucvin isolated from the same variety of the plant. It carries the same furan ring, and therefore the same susceptibility to oxidative bioactivation, as the germander toxicophore. No separate toxicology has been done on it.
Teucvisins A to E
neo-Clerodane diterpenesConcentration: Not quantified; isolated preparatively from whole plants
Five previously undescribed neo-clerodane diterpenes from the whole plant. Their interest here is structural rather than therapeutic: they confirm that this species accumulates the clerodane class abundantly, which is the class banned dietary supplements of Teucrium chamaedrys were withdrawn over.
Teuvissides A to H
Glucosylated coumaroyltyramine derivatives (phenolic amides)Concentration: Not quantified; assayed at 2.0 microM
Eight new phenolic amide glucosides from the whole plant. All raised glucose consumption in HepG2 cells and 3T3-L1 adipocytes at 2.0 microM, with teuvissides A, B and F giving roughly two- to two-and-a-half-fold increases over basal. Cell-culture antihyperglycaemic activity only, and it does not offset the hepatic hazard of the clerodanes in the same plant.
Teuvinoids A to J
nor-Clerodane diterpenoidsConcentration: Not quantified
Ten nor-clerodane diterpenoids from the whole plant, two of them carrying an unusual tetrahydroxylated tetrahydrofuran ring. Teuvinoids A and B reduced fibronectin, collagen I and alpha-smooth muscle actin in TGF-beta1-stimulated LX-2 hepatic stellate cells. This must not be read as the plant being hepatoprotective: the same plant carries furanoclerodanes and has a published human hepatitis case against it.
⚠ Drug Interactions
Rifampicin, carbamazepine, phenytoin, dexamethasone and other CYP3A4 inducers
The furanoditerpenoids of germander are activated by CYP3A into electrophilic metabolites that deplete glutathione and cytoskeleton-associated protein thiols, producing membrane blebs and hepatocyte death. In that work the CYP3A inhibitor troleandomycin slowed glutathione depletion and reduced toxicity, while the CYP3A inducer dexamethasone made it worse, and female rat hepatocytes, which express little CYP3A, were largely spared until induced. Teucrium viscidum contains the same furan-containing clerodanes, teucvin, teuflin and the teucvisins, so the same activation route should be assumed. The rat and hepatocyte data are germander's, not this plant's.
Clinical note: Do not combine with a CYP3A4 inducer. If the herb has been taken alongside one and the patient reports nausea, jaundice or dark urine, check liver enzymes and bilirubin the same day and stop the herb.
Paracetamol (acetaminophen) and alcohol
Furanoclerodane toxicity in the germander model is glutathione-dependent: feeding rats a sulfur amino acid deficient diet lowered hepatocyte glutathione and worsened the injury, while cystine supplementation reduced it. Paracetamol and chronic alcohol both consume hepatic glutathione by their own routes, so the reserve that limits clerodane injury is smaller in a patient taking either. This is mechanistic inference from germander applied to a plant with the same toxicophore and one reported human hepatitis case.
Clinical note: Do not prescribe alongside regular paracetamol or in a patient who drinks heavily. In malnourished or fasting patients the same caution applies for the same reason.
Methotrexate, isoniazid, azole antifungals and other hepatotoxic drugs
A previously healthy 51-year-old woman in Hong Kong developed jaundice, nausea and tea-coloured urine after three days of a herbal remedy containing this plant taken for low back pain, with total bilirubin 11.4 mg/dL, alanine aminotransferase 2620 U/L, aspartate aminotransferase 1876 U/L and alkaline phosphatase 186 U/L. Enzymes normalised two months after stopping. Adding a drug with its own hepatocellular signal to a herb that has already caused hepatitis at that magnitude compounds the risk and makes attribution impossible if injury occurs.
Clinical note: Avoid the combination. If the herb is used at all, obtain baseline liver enzymes and repeat them within two to four weeks; the reported case declared itself within days.
Teucrium chamaedrys (germander) and other Teucrium species
Dietary supplements of Teucrium chamaedrys were withdrawn after an epidemic of hepatitis in France, and the ban is attributed specifically to the furan-containing neo-clerodane constituents, with teucrin A and teuchamaedryn A named as the major toxic components. Two further hepatitis cases from Teucrium chamaedrys decoction were published in 2011. Teucrium viscidum shares that chemistry. It is, in the words of the clinicians who reported the human case, infrequently used in Chinese medicine, for rheumatic and bleeding disorders, and their patient met it inside an unlabelled multi-herb remedy she could not have inspected.
Clinical note: Treat any Teucrium as a liver risk until a batch is shown to be clerodane-free. Ask what is actually in a multi-herb back-pain or slimming remedy before assuming this plant is not present.
Metformin, sulfonylureas and insulin
Teuvissides A to H, phenolic amide glucosides from this plant, increased glucose consumption in HepG2 hepatocytes and 3T3-L1 adipocytes at 2.0 microM, with the most active roughly doubling it. Related abietane diterpenoids from the same plant were also screened for alpha-glucosidase inhibition. All of this is cell culture; no animal or human glycaemic study exists.
Clinical note: Not a reason to use the herb in diabetes, and not a reason to expect a clinically meaningful glucose effect. If a diabetic patient is taking it anyway, the liver risk is the reason to stop it, not the glucose.
Dosage Calculator
⚖ Dosage Calculator
A weight-based mathematical estimate for Teucrium viscidum. Not a prescription.
Evidence Tier
5 studies on recordRecorded studies by study design, strongest design at the top. This is a study-design tier only, not a GRADE rating: it does not weigh risk of bias, consistency or precision.
Systematic review / meta-analysis
0
Randomized controlled trial
0
Other clinical trial
0
Observational / case report
1
1 verified · 0 unverified
Show the study
In vitro / animal
4
1 verified · 3 unverified
Show 4 studies
- Hepatotoxicity of the Herbal Medicine Germander: Metabolic Activation of Its Furano Diterpenoids by Cytochrome P450 3A Depletes Cytoskeleton–Associated Protein Thiols and Forms Plasma Membrane Blebs in Rat Hepatocytes
- Antihyperglycemic Glucosylated Coumaroyltyramine Derivatives from Teucrium viscidum
- Tetrahydrofuran- and dihydrofuran-containing nor-clerodane diterpenoids from Teucrium viscidum: Isolation, stereochemical assignment, and anti-hepatic fibrosis activity
- Dimeric Abietane Diterpenoids and Sesquiterpenoid Lactones from Teucrium viscidum
Other / unclassified
0
Verified: design read from PubMed for a DOI that resolves to the cited paper Unverified: taken from the study's recorded description
Clinical Studies
Hepatitis induced by Teucrium viscidum
A previously healthy 51-year-old Hong Kong woman developed acute hepatitis after three days of a herbal remedy containing this plant for low back pain: total bilirubin 11.4 mg/dL, ALT 2620 U/L, AST 1876 U/L, ALP 186 U/L, with denial of any other hepatotoxin. Liver enzymes returned to normal two months after the remedy was stopped. The authors report it as the first hepatitis case probably related to Teucrium viscidum and attribute it to teucvin, the plant's counterpart to the germander toxicophore. A single case, but it is the only human data that exists for this plant and it is a positive one for harm.
Hepatotoxicity of the Herbal Medicine Germander: Metabolic Activation of Its Furano Diterpenoids by Cytochrome P450 3A Depletes Cytoskeleton–Associated Protein Thiols and Forms Plasma Membrane Blebs in Rat Hepatocytes
In isolated rat hepatocytes, the furanoditerpenoid fraction of germander and its purified constituents teucrin A and teuchamaedryn A were hepatotoxic while more polar and more lipophilic fractions were not. Radiolabelled teucrin A bound covalently to hepatocyte protein; glutathione and cytoskeleton-associated protein thiols fell and membrane blebs formed. CYP3A inhibition reduced the toxicity and CYP3A induction increased it, and glutathione status modified it in both directions. This is germander, not Teucrium viscidum, but it is the mechanism the whole clerodane hazard rests on.
Antihyperglycemic Glucosylated Coumaroyltyramine Derivatives from Teucrium viscidum
Eight new glucosylated coumaroyltyramine derivatives, teuvissides A to H, were isolated from whole plants and all increased glucose consumption in HepG2 cells and 3T3-L1 adipocytes at 2.0 microM. Teuvissides A, B and F gave 2.2, 2.1 and 2.2-fold changes in HepG2 and 2.5, 2.1 and 2.3-fold in adipocytes. Cell-culture screening with no dosing or safety context.
Tetrahydrofuran- and dihydrofuran-containing nor-clerodane diterpenoids from Teucrium viscidum: Isolation, stereochemical assignment, and anti-hepatic fibrosis activity
Ten previously undescribed nor-clerodane diterpenoids, teuvinoids A to J, were isolated from whole plants with absolute configurations set by ECD and X-ray. Teuvinoids A and B lowered fibronectin, collagen I and alpha-smooth muscle actin in TGF-beta1-stimulated LX-2 hepatic stellate cells. Isolated compounds in a stellate cell line. It is not evidence that the whole herb is safe for, or good for, a liver.
Dimeric Abietane Diterpenoids and Sesquiterpenoid Lactones from Teucrium viscidum
A new abietane diterpenoid teuvisone, a pair of dimeric abietane stereoisomers biteuvisones A and B, and three new sesquiterpenoid lactones teuvislactones A to C were isolated from whole plants along with four known terpenoids, and screened against five human cancer cell lines and for alpha-glucosidase inhibition. Chemical isolation with routine screening; nothing here bears on clinical use.
References
- Fujita E, Uchida I, Fujita T. Terpenoids. Part XXXII. Structure and stereochemistry of teucvin, a novel norclerodane-type diterpene from Teucrium viscidum var. Miquelianum . Journal of the Chemical Society, Perkin Transactions 1 (1974) [DOI]
- Node M, Sai M, Fujita E. Isolation of the diterpenoid teuflin (6-epiteucvin) from Teucrium viscidum var. miquelianum . Phytochemistry (1981) [DOI]
- Lv HW, Luo JG, Zhu MD, Shan SM, Kong LY. Teucvisins A–E, Five New neo-Clerodane Diterpenes from Teucrium viscidum . Chemical and Pharmaceutical Bulletin (2014) [DOI]
- Piccolella S, Scognamiglio M, D'Abrosca B, Esposito A, Fiorentino A, Pacifico S. Chemical Fractionation Joint to In-Mixture NMR Analysis for Avoiding the Hepatotoxicity of Teucrium chamaedrys L. subsp. chamaedrys . Biomolecules (2021) [DOI]
- Gori L, Galluzzi P, Mascherini V, Gallo E, Lapi F, Menniti-Ippolito F, Raschetti R, Mugelli A, Vannacci A, Firenzuoli F. Two Contemporary Cases of Hepatitis Associated with Teucrium Chamaedrys L. Decoction Use. Case Reports and Review of Literature . Basic & Clinical Pharmacology & Toxicology (2011) [DOI]
- De Berardinis V, Moulis C, Maurice M, Beaune P, Pessayre D, Pompon D, Loeper J. Human Microsomal Epoxide Hydrolase Is the Target of Germander-Induced Autoantibodies on the Surface of Human Hepatocytes . Molecular Pharmacology (2000) [DOI]
- Khoa VV, Dai DN, Huong LT, Thinh BB. Sesquiterpene Hydrocarbon-rich Essential Oil from Teucrium viscidum Blume and its Antimicrobial and Mosquito Larvicidal Activities . Natural Product Communications (2024) [DOI]
This information is for educational purposes only and is not intended to replace professional medical advice. Always consult a qualified healthcare provider before using any herbal remedy, especially if you are pregnant, nursing, or taking medications.
📝 Notes
Public notes from the community and your own private notes on Teucrium viscidum.
No notes yet.