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Updated on: October 2, 2026
⏱ 9 min read
In this country, liverwort is considered a nuisance in the garden. However, scientists have discovered that liverwort contains certain active ingredients that are very similar to tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). THC is the psychoactive ingredient of the cannabis plant. This is why liverwort is now considered a "legal high".
While people used to think that liver diseases could be cured with it, the broad knowledge about the use of liverwort is returning in a scientifically proven way. Researchers have discovered that certain types of liverwort can compete with cannabis thanks to their pain-inhibiting active substances.
Liverwort is a plant that belongs to the moss genus. Over the course of time, it has usually settled where other plant species do not want to be. While many plants prefer sunny places to grow and thrive, liverwort prefers to grow in the shade.
➤ In Europe, liverwort extract is mainly used as a pesticide and fertilizer. It can also be helpful as a cleaning agent for mold infestation.
As early as 1994, the Japanese scientist Masao Toyota from the University of Tokushima Bunri, together with the German scientist Frank Cullmann, discovered that certain liverworts contain a cannabinoid compound.
Please note: not all liverworts are the same. Not all types of liverwort contain the cannabis-like active ingredients.
We are talking about the so-called radula genus: Radula perrottetii, Radula marginata and Radula laxramea. These grow mainly in Japan, New Zealand and Costa Rica.
The group of liverworts is divided into two genera, depending on the growth habit of the plant.
There are the thallose and the leafy liverworts.
Leafy liverwort is used as a natural dietary supplement.
For a long time, doctors assumed that cannabinoids could only be extracted from a hemp plant, but studies with liverwort now prove the opposite. It has been shown that the detected cannabinoid compound is capable of docking onto the cannabinoid receptors.
➤ Cannabinoid receptors are binding sites on nerve cells in the central nervous system.
Jürg Gertsch from the University of Berlin and Erick Carreira from ETH Zurich compared perrottetinene - the THC-like substance - biochemically and pharmacologically with THC. Animal models have shown that the cannabinoid compound perrottetinene, like THC, can easily reach the brain to activate cannabinoid receptors. According to their study, perrottetins can have stronger anti-inflammatory effects in the brain than THC.
Inflammation in the body always involves processes in the brain. When liverwort is used, these chemical processes in the brain are inhibited and even blocked. Thanks to perrottetins, liverwort therefore helps to trigger an analgesic and anti-inflammatory effect in the body.
Like THC, perrottetinene can easily cross the blood-brain barrier and activate specific cannabinoid receptors in the brain. The studies conducted with mice showed characteristics that are typical of cannabis use. The mice were less sensitive to pain, their movements slowed down and their body temperature dropped. It was found that the substance had a weaker psychoactive effect and at the same time better counteracted inflammatory processes in the brain. Perrottetins also ensure that fewer prostaglandins - hormone-like messenger substances that trigger inflammation - are released in the brain.
Such an effect is also attributed to CBD oil and is considered scientifically proven. Especially for chronic pain, preparations containing CBD such as CBD oil are increasingly being used as alternatives to chemical painkillers.
The possible uses of liverwort are just as wide-ranging as the applications of cannabis.
In addition to the analgesic and anti-inflammatory effect of liverwort, it is also used for the following conditions:
The moss has an excellent effect on various fungal skin diseases.
External application is particularly recommended. Simply apply the undiluted extract to the affected area up to 3 times a day with a little absorbent cotton.
➤ A foot bath with liverwort extract is recommended for nail fungus.
Liverwort is not the only plant whose active substances act against pain and inflammation. Alongside CBD oil, two plant extracts have been tested in many clinical trials in people with painful joints: frankincense (Boswellia serrata) and turmeric with its yellow pigment curcumin.
In a meta-analysis of seven randomized trials with 545 osteoarthritis patients, Boswellia and its extract relieved pain and stiffness and improved joint function. The authors recommend taking it for at least 4 weeks (Yu et al., 2020). For turmeric, a meta-analysis of 15 randomized trials with 1,621 participants found that Curcuma longa extract and curcumin reduced pain and stiffness and improved function compared with placebo. Compared with non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), the effects on joint pain, function and stiffness were similar, while adverse events were less frequent (Zeng et al., 2021).
Both extracts are available as frankincense capsules and turmeric extract capsules. The Acute Arthrosis Pack combines frankincense and curcumin with collagen for the cartilage. You can read more in the guides to chronic pain and to herbs against inflammation.
Perrottetinene (PET for short) is the cannabinoid of the liverworts. Chemically it belongs to the bibenzyls. The form found in nature, (-)-cis-perrottetinene, structurally resembles (-)-Δ9-trans-tetrahydrocannabinol, the THC of Cannabis sativa (Chicca et al., 2018).
By lowering prostaglandin levels in the brain, perrottetinene mimics the action of 2-arachidonoyl glycerol, one of the body's own cannabinoids (Chicca et al., 2018). A computer study of the CB1 receptor showed that THC and perrottetinene interact with the receptor in a similar way. The authors describe perrottetinene as an attractive lead for drug development with fewer side effects than THC (Reis et al., 2020).
Perrottetinene no longer has to be extracted from moss: the first stereoselective total synthesis in the laboratory was published in 2008 (Song et al., 2008). The substance is also attracting interest beyond pain research. In 2026, a laboratory-made variant, epi-perrottetinene, showed potent antibacterial activity against Gram-positive pathogens, including resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), and remained effective against bacterial biofilms (Kumar et al., 2026).
Radula perrottetii, a liverwort from Japan, is the species in which cannabinoid-type bibenzyls were first isolated. In 2002, they were reported from a second species: the ether extract of the New Zealand liverwort Radula marginata yielded perrottetinene and a new cannabinoid, perrottetinenic acid, whose structure is similar to that of THC (Toyota et al., 2002).
Radula marginata grows only in Aotearoa/New Zealand. It produces perrottetinene, and the structural differences between perrottetinene and THC could change how it acts therapeutically and mitigate adverse side effects. For a study published in 2025, researchers analyzed 75 collections of the moss from three locations across several seasons, in collaboration with Māori guardians. They found three chemical types of the plant, in striking analogy to cannabis:
These chemical types persisted when the moss was grown under artificial lighting and in laboratory culture, which suggests that they are genetically determined (Andre et al., 2025). The genetic basis has been mapped as well: in the transcriptome of Radula marginata, researchers identified 11,421 putative genes, among them all the upstream genes for cannabigerolic acid, the central precursor of cannabinoid biosynthesis (Hussain et al., 2018).
The medicinal use of mosses and liverworts dates back to ancient times, and the earliest written testimonies come from the 1500s. A review of historical printed sources from 1616 to 1889 identified 28 species of mosses and liverworts in 26 publications. The medicinal properties of 16 species were confirmed. The uses were mostly external, for example as antimicrobial remedies (Drobnik & Stebel, 2021). Outside Europe, bryophytes have historically been used as medicine in China, India and by Native Americans, and liverworts also served as immunostimulants (Sharma et al., 2022).
The reason lies in the plant cells. Liverworts contain oil bodies in which they produce terpenoids and aromatic compounds. More than 220 aromatic compounds and 700 terpenoids have been discovered in liverworts (Sharma et al., 2022). Several of these substances show interesting biological activity (Asakawa, 2008):
Treatments made from natural products such as liverwort are a healthy alternative to conventional medicines. The mostly forgotten knowledge about the impressive liverwort is worth rediscovering. Thanks to recent studies, it has been proven that certain liverwort species have therapeutic potential, which makes it very interesting from a medical perspective. However, further research is needed to further investigate its modes of action. Thanks to its natural form, there are currently no known concerns or side effects when taking it. If you are considering long-term use, we recommend that you consult a naturopath.
In connection with cannabinoids, Japanese liverwort means Radula perrottetii, a leafy liverwort from Japan. In 1994, the Japanese scientist Masao Toyota discovered that it contains perrottetinene, a cannabinoid compound that closely resembles THC.
Yes. Certain liverworts contain perrottetinene, which has an analgesic and anti-inflammatory effect, and liverwort extract works excellently on fungal skin diseases and nail fungus. In Europe, the extract is also used as a pesticide and fertilizer and as a cleaning agent for mold infestation.
Liverworts are also called hepatics, and their scientific name is Marchantiophyta. The cannabinoid-containing species such as Radula perrottetii and Radula marginata belong to the genus Radula.
Traditionally, liverwort was used primarily to treat complaints relating to the liver, gallbladder and urinary bladder. Today's research on Japanese liverwort focuses on its cannabinoid perrottetinene and on its pain-relieving and anti-inflammatory effects.
Thanks to its natural form, there are currently no known concerns or side effects when taking liverwort. For long-term use, it is advisable to consult a naturopath. For external use, the undiluted extract is applied to the affected area up to 3 times a day.
Alcaraz, L.D., Peimbert, M., Barajas, H.R. et al. (2018). Marchantia liverworts as a proxy to plants’ basal microbiomes. Sci Rep 8, 12712. doi: 10.1038/s41598-018-31168-0
Chicca, A., Schafroth, M. A., Reynoso-Moreno, I., Erni, R., Petrucci, V., Carreira, E. M., & Gertsch, J. (2018). Uncovering the psychoactivity of a cannabinoid from liverworts associated with a legal high. Science advances, 4(10), eaat2166. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.aat2166
Andre, C. M., Sansom, C. E., Plunkett, B. J., Hamiaux, C., Massey, L., Chan, A., Caddie, M., Espley, R. V., & Perry, N. B. (2025). Unique bibenzyl cannabinoids in the liverwort Radula marginata: parallels with Cannabis chemistry. New Phytologist, 246(6), 2666–2682. doi:10.1111/nph.20349
Asakawa, Y. (2008). Liverworts – potential source of medicinal compounds. Current Pharmaceutical Design, 14(29), 3067–3088. doi:10.2174/138161208786404272
Drobnik, J., & Stebel, A. (2021). Four Centuries of Medicinal Mosses and Liverworts in European Ethnopharmacy and Scientific Pharmacy: A Review. Plants, 10(7), 1296. doi:10.3390/plants10071296
Hussain, T., Plunkett, B., Ejaz, M., Espley, R. V., & Kayser, O. (2018). Identification of Putative Precursor Genes for the Biosynthesis of Cannabinoid-Like Compound in Radula marginata. Frontiers in Plant Science, 9, 537. doi:10.3389/fpls.2018.00537
Kumar, V., Gangwar, A., Khajuria, S., Saini, S., Samad, M., Singh, V. P., Sharma, R., & Singh, P. P. (2026). Total Synthesis and Antibacterial Evaluation of (-)- and (+)-epi-Perrottetinene. ACS Infectious Diseases, 12(8), 2681–2694. doi:10.1021/acsinfecdis.6c00166
Reis, M. H., Antunes, D., Santos, L. H. S., Guimarães, A. C. R., & Caffarena, E. R. (2020). Shared Binding Mode of Perrottetinene and Tetrahydrocannabinol Diastereomers inside the CB1 Receptor May Incentivize Novel Medicinal Drug Design: Findings from an in Silico Assay. ACS Chemical Neuroscience, 11(24), 4289–4300. doi:10.1021/acschemneuro.0c00547
Sharma, R., Singh, S., & Alam, A. (2022). Pharmacological, Cytotoxic, Immunostimulant, and Auto-Immune Activity of Thalloid Liverworts: An Overview. Critical Reviews in Immunology, 42(5), 9–19. doi:10.1615/CritRevImmunol.2022047292
Song, Y., Hwang, S., Gong, P., Kim, D., & Kim, S. (2008). Stereoselective total synthesis of (-)-perrottetinene and assignment of its absolute configuration. Organic Letters, 10(2), 269–271. doi:10.1021/ol702692q
Toyota, M., Shimamura, T., Ishii, H., Renner, M., Braggins, J., & Asakawa, Y. (2002). New bibenzyl cannabinoid from the New Zealand liverwort Radula marginata. Chemical & Pharmaceutical Bulletin, 50(10), 1390–1392. doi:10.1248/cpb.50.1390
Yu, G., Xiang, W., Zhang, T., Zeng, L., Yang, K., & Li, J. (2020). Effectiveness of Boswellia and Boswellia extract for osteoarthritis patients: a systematic review and meta-analysis. BMC Complementary Medicine and Therapies, 20(1), 225. doi:10.1186/s12906-020-02985-6
Zeng, L., Yu, G., Hao, W., Yang, K., & Chen, H. (2021). The efficacy and safety of Curcuma longa extract and curcumin supplements on osteoarthritis: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Bioscience Reports, 41(6), BSR20210817. doi:10.1042/BSR20210817
Important Notice
This guide is for informational purposes only and does not replace professional medical advice.
The content of the Herbano Health Editorial team is carefully researched and based on current scientific studies.
Content created with the support of artificial intelligence and edited by the Herbano Editorial team.
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