Love Potions & Charms

By Leanna Feder

Feb 6 2020

Love potions and charms are mentioned countless times throughout literature; from ancient Greek epic poems to the modern day. Plants, with their delicate beauty and untold secret properties, are often key components in the lore of love magic. Some of these “magical love herbs” are actually quite poisonous due to their chemical compounds! As they say… love hurts.

Scroll through a collection of our most enchanting plants and learn some of the myths and legends associated with them!


Folkard, R. (1892). Plant lore, legends, and lyrics: Embracing the myths, traditions, superstitions and folk-lore of the plant kingdom. London.

Gunther, W. (2003). Love and death in Wagner's Tristan und Isolde—an epic anticholinergic crisis. BMJ. doi: 10.1136/bmj.327.7429.1469

Leonti, M., & Casu, L. (2018). Ethnopharmacology of Love. Frontiers in Pharmacology, 9. doi: 10.3389/fphar.2018.00567

Müller, J. L. (1998). Love Potions and the Ointment of Witches: Historical Aspects of the Nightshade Alkaloids. Journal of Toxicology: Clinical Toxicology, 36(6), 617–627. doi: 10.3109/15563659809028060