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Botanical Name
Peumus boldus

Boldo

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Details

Boldo is an evergreen shrub or small tree of the Andean foothills in Chile. Its opposite, leathery leaves are covered in small glands and smell strong and rather unpleasant when crushed. Grieve says the yellowish-green fruit is eaten in Chile, the bark is used for tanning, and the wood is made into charcoal. The leaves, the part used in herbal medicine, contain a volatile oil and an alkaloid called boldine. Boldo is often confused with a different plant, Plectranthus ornatus, sold in South America as false boldo, so the use and toxicity of the two have been mixed up. Wikipedia and AHPA record cautions on liver and bile-duct conditions.

Caution

AHPA safety class 2d. Not for use in persons with obstruction of the bile duct or serious liver conditions; in persons with gallstones only under the supervision of a qualified practitioner. An anaphylactic reaction to boldo has been reported, as has hepatotoxicity after a laxative was reformulated to contain boldo. Wikipedia reports the European Medicines Agency noting that the leaf contains the alkaloid boldine and that the constituent ascaridole is highly toxic. Grieve says boldine in toxic doses causes convulsions and death from respiratory paralysis.

References

#1#2#3

Correspondences

Elements
No elements recorded.
Celestial Bodies
No celestial bodies recorded.
Zodiac Signs
No zodiac signs recorded.
Colours
No colours recorded.
Deities
No deities recorded.

Folk Names

  • Boldu
  • Boldus

Categories

No categories recorded.

Substitutes

No substitutes recorded.

Forms

Leaf

The dried leaves are opposite, about two inches long and red-brown, with a prominent midrib and small surface glands. They smell strongly and unpleasantly when crushed and yield about two per cent of an aromatic oil on distillation.

References

#4#5

References

Notes

  1. Gardner and McGuffin, American Herbal Products Association's, pp. 641–642.
  2. Grieve, "Boldo."
  3. Wikipedia, under "Boldo."
  4. Gardner and McGuffin, American Herbal Products Association's, pp. 641–642.
  5. Grieve, "Boldo."

Bibliography

  • Gardner, Zoë, and Michael McGuffin, eds. American Herbal Products Association's Botanical Safety Handbook. 2nd ed. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press, 2013. (PDF.)14
  • Grieve, M. "Boldo." A Modern Herbal. Accessed October 11, 2026. https://www.botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/b/boldo-64.html. Open the Source25
  • Wikipedia, under "Boldo." Accessed October 29, 2026. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Boldo&oldid=1372661127. Open the Source3
Boldo (Peumus boldus) | Sorrel & Salt