Herbs for Testosterone (and Why Men Start With Pine Pollen)
Most lists of herbs for testosterone throw ten plants at you and stop at the names. This one gives each herb the study men quote for it: who was tested, for how long, and what moved. Seven plants made the cut. Pine pollen leads, because it is the one plant where testosterone itself has been found inside the plant, and the one with two recent pilot studies in men measuring testosterone directly.
Pine pollen comes first on any list of herbs for testosterone
In 1971 a team in Zagreb led by Šaden-Krehula analysed pollen from Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) and isolated testosterone, epitestosterone and androstenedione. It was the first time those three hormones had been identified in a plant. No other herb on this list has that finding behind it.
The human work came much later. In 2024, Wolkodoff and colleagues ran an 8 week pilot study in 10 men aged 47 to 78. Their average total testosterone rose from 362.5 to 448.4 ng/dL. Their qADAM score, a questionnaire doctors use to track drive, energy and the other signs of declining male hormones, rose from 23.9 to 31.7.
A 2025 pilot followed 11 men and looked at free testosterone, the share your body can use straight away. It rose from 10.48 to 11.72 ng/dL, and sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG), the protein that ties testosterone up in the blood, fell.
What men say after a few weeks matches the questionnaire. The two reports that come up most are stronger morning wood and more drive, in the gym and in bed.
Chinese herbal texts have listed 松花粉 (song hua fen, pine flower powder) since the Tang dynasty, and it sits in the Chinese Pharmacopoeia today. For a full background on the plant, read our complete guide to pine pollen.
Six other herbs men take for testosterone
Each of these has a named human trial. Here is what each one measured and found.
Ashwagandha (Withania somnifera)
Lopresti and colleagues published a crossover trial in the American Journal of Men's Health in 2019. Men aged 40 to 70, overweight and mildly fatigued, took 21 mg of withanolide glycosides a day for 8 weeks and placebo for another 8; 43 finished both phases. Testosterone rose 14.7% more on ashwagandha than on placebo, and DHEA-S, a precursor hormone, rose 18% more.
Tongkat ali (Eurycoma longifolia)
A 2012 study by Tambi and colleagues gave 76 men with late-onset hypogonadism 200 mg of a water-soluble root extract a day for one month. By the end, 90.8% of them had testosterone in the normal range. A separate 2013 trial by Talbott in 63 moderately stressed adults (32 of them men) found salivary testosterone 37% higher and cortisol 16% lower than placebo after 4 weeks.
Fenugreek (Trigonella foenum-graecum)
Rao and colleagues tested a 600 mg seed extract in 120 healthy men aged 43 to 70 for 12 weeks, reported in The Aging Male in 2016. Total and free testosterone both rose compared with placebo, scores on the Aging Males' Symptoms scale dropped, and the men reported better sexual function.
Tribulus terrestris
Bulgarian researchers led by Kamenov ran a trial of 180 men over 12 weeks, published in Maturitas in 2017. Erectile function scores in the tribulus group went from 18.01 to 22.76, against 18.22 to 20.19 on placebo. Serum testosterone stayed level, so tribulus earns its place on these lists for the bedroom result.
Maca (Lepidium meyenii)
Gonzales and colleagues gave 57 men aged 21 to 56 either 1.5 or 3 g of gelatinized maca root a day for 12 weeks (Andrologia, 2002). Sexual desire climbed from week 8. Blood testosterone and estradiol held steady, which tells you maca works on desire through some other route.
Nettle root (Urtica dioica)
Nettle root's place on testosterone lists comes from a 1997 lab study by Schöttner and colleagues in Planta Medica. Lignans from the root, and the compounds the gut makes from them, bound to human SHBG in the test tube. Men who stack nettle with other herbs do it with that SHBG finding in mind.
Which herb should a man start with?
Line the studies up and pine pollen is the obvious first bottle. It is the only plant on the list where the hormones themselves were found. Its pilot studies were done in men, and they measured the three numbers men care about: total testosterone, free testosterone and SHBG. On top of that, the qADAM questionnaire picked up the change men feel day to day.
The best herbs for testosterone also tend to fit together. Ashwagandha, tongkat ali and fenugreek are all taken as capsules, so a dropper of pine pollen tincture sits alongside any of them without crowding your morning routine.
Pine Pollen – Spagyric Pine Pollen Tincture
50 ml dropper bottle. Wild-harvested, cracked-cell Pinus radiata pollen.
Add to bagHow Mara makes its pine pollen tincture
Mara's pollen is wild-harvested from Pinus radiata. Each pollen grain has a tough outer wall with two small air sacs, and the pollen is cracked-cell, meaning that wall has been broken open before extraction.
The tincture is spagyric. The pollen is extracted, then the minerals left behind are returned to the liquid, so the whole plant ends up in the bottle. Ingredients are simple: premium quality extract.
It tastes soft and lightly earthy, with a faint sweetness. Men take 1 to 2 droppers a day, held under the tongue for 20 to 30 seconds and swallowed, or stirred into water, tea, juice or a smoothie. At that amount a 50 ml bottle lasts 30 to 50 days.
The bottle matters too. Dark amber glass is a step in the right direction, but dark Miron glass is the gold standard, because it keeps light off the extract for the life of the bottle. Mara uses dark Miron glass. If you want to hear how it goes for men after a month, our honest pine pollen review covers it.
Questions men ask about herbs for testosterone
What is the strongest herb for testosterone?
Pine pollen is the only plant in which testosterone, epitestosterone and androstenedione have been isolated (Šaden-Krehula, 1971). In the 2024 Wolkodoff pilot, total testosterone in 10 men rose from 362.5 to 448.4 ng/dL over 8 weeks.
Which herbs for testosterone production have studies in men?
Pine pollen, ashwagandha, tongkat ali and fenugreek all have trials in men that measured a rise in testosterone. Tribulus and maca trials in men measured erections and desire.
Can you take pine pollen with ashwagandha or tongkat ali?
Many men do. The tincture goes under the tongue or into a drink, so it sits easily next to capsules.
How long before men notice pine pollen?
The 2024 pilot measured its results at 8 weeks. Stronger morning wood and more drive are the changes men mention first.