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Low toxicity💊 Medicinal

🌼 Mountain Arnica

Arnica montana · Asteraceae

🏔️ Mountains
🧠 To remember it"Arnica heals outside, never inside" — the golden rule: skin application only, never as tea or ingested.
Mountain Arnica — Arnica montana

🔍 Identify it without mistakes

Perennial plant with a basal rosette of 2 to 4 large, entire oval leaves, growing a single flower stem (rarely branched) of 20 to 60 cm, topped by a large bright yellow-orange daisy-like flower head with a slightly camphorated aromatic scent. A protected species in many areas, never forage it in the wild.

  1. basal rosette of 2-4 large, entire, undivided oval leaves
  2. single flower stem bearing a single large orange flower head
  3. faint camphor smell when crushed
  4. grows in high-altitude acidic grasslands, never on limestone
Size20-60 cm
Floweringjuin-août
Habitatacidic subalpine and alpine grasslands and pastures, 600-2800 m, Alps, Pyrenees, Massif Central, and Vosges, siliceous soils

⚠️ Not to be confused with

Leopard's bane (Doronicum spp.)none (leopard's bane isn't edible either, but isn't dangerous to touch)

To tell them apart: numerous and toothed stem leaves on leopard's bane versus a simple basal rosette and mostly bare stem on arnica

💊 Healing with it

EXTERNAL use only: bruises, hematomas, sprains, post-traumatic edema, muscle and joint pain

Level of evidence : limited studies — EMA/HMPC Monograph Arnicae flos (well-established traditional use, external use only)

⚠️ NEVER take orally (toxic, digestive irritant, and cardiotoxic at non-homeopathic doses); apply only to unbroken skin, never on open wounds; not recommended for children under 12, pregnant or breastfeeding women, or people allergic to Asteraceae (daisies, chrysanthemums); protected species, never pick it in the wild

Sources (2)

No entry replaces a certain identification in the field, or medical advice. When in doubt: don't eat it. If ingestion is suspected: poison control or 112/911.