Contains 2–11% tannins (ellagitannins), mainly agrimoniin, plus dimeric and trimeric proanthocyanidins, flavonoids (isoquercitrin, rutin, apigenin-7-glucuronide, luteolin-7-glucuronide), triterpenes (ursolic and euscaphic acids), polysaccharides, and a small amount of essential oil.
Used for mild diarrhea as an anti-diarrheal. The tannins inhibit chloride channels, reducing intestinal fluid secretion and thickening bowel content. Agrimony herb is also used as a gargle for mild inflammations of the mouth and throat and externally for small skin inflammations and superficial wounds.
The drug consists of dried flowering tops. The stem is green or reddish, cylindrical, irregularly branched, and covered with long, straight or curved hairs. The leaves are arranged in three to six larger opposite pairs, with two to three smaller leaflets between them. The upper surface of the leaflets is dark green; the underside is grayish and felted. The leaflet edges are deeply serrated. The small five-petaled flowers grow in the axils of hairy bracts, forming a terminal spike. The calyx is enclosed at the top by hooked bristles forming the margin of a hairy receptacle. The petals are free, yellow, and deciduous. The fruit is an inverted conical hypanthium with deep ribs and hooked bristles.
The drug is listed in the pharmacopoeia.
In pulverized drug under the microscope we can see:
Straight or curved unicellular long covering trichomes — some twisted by thread, others tuberculate
Glandular trichomes with a four-celled head curved in an arc
