Ground ivy

Glechoma hederacea

Also: Creeping Charlie, Alehoof, Gill-over-the-ground

CoolingDryingTonifying

Drains stuffy ears and sinuses.

A low, creeping mint with round, scalloped leaves and small blue-violet flowers in spring, spreading by runners across lawns and shady ground. Ground ivy dries and drains congested membranes and lymph in the head and neck, then carries the fluid off through the kidneys.

Energetics: Cooling, drying, toning
Taste: Green, mildly bitter, faintly aromatic
Family: Lamiaceae (mint family)
Parts used: Leaves and flowering tops

Medicinal uses 4

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Traditional useLab and mechanism studiesClinical studies

Sinus congestionTLC
Clears early sinus congestion and the pressure headache that comes with it.
EaracheTLC
Taken early, drains the fluid that builds up behind a congested, aching ear.
Swollen glandsTLC
Moves swollen glands in the neck.
Fluid retentionTLC
A gentle diuretic that carries off the fluid it drains.

Preparations

Fresh or dried leaf tea, fresh-plant tincture, and sinus blends.

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Cautions

Ear pain with fever or discharge, or any ear pain in a baby, needs a clinician.
It carries a trace of pulegone, the compound that makes pennyroyal dangerous, at far lower levels; keep to normal doses.
It is toxic to horses in quantity; keep it out of pastures and hay.

Pregnancy & breastfeeding

PregnancyAvoid

It carries traces of pulegone, the liver-straining compound in pennyroyal, and gentler herbs cover the same ground, so it is left out of pregnancy.

BreastfeedingAvoid

The same trace of pulegone could reach a nursing baby; choose other herbs while nursing.

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Folklore

Before hops, Saxon brewers steeped ground ivy in ale to clear and bitter it, which gave it the names alehoof and tunhoof, and gill may come from the French guiller, to ferment. John Gerard's herbal of 1597 recommended its juice for humming and ringing in the ears. Each runner roots at every node, which is how one plant can carpet a lawn in a few seasons.

How to grow

A hardy, shade-tolerant perennial that grows almost anywhere damp and spreads by runners rooting as they go. Give it a contained bed, since it is famously hard to clear from lawns. Gather it in spring when it flowers.

In the wild

Native to Europe and western Asia, and naturalized in lawns, shady yards, woodland edges, and disturbed ground across much of North America.

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