Tansy
Parts Usually Used
Flowers, seeds
Description of Plant(s) and Culture
Tansy was once valued as a pot herb. It can be recognized by its feathery leaves and clusters of bright yellow button-like flowers. Full sun or partial shade. Zones 4-9. Tansy is an aromatic, perennial plant which is cultivated and also found growing wild. The short creeping rootstock sends an erect, nearly round, often purplish-brown stem to a height of 1-5 feet. The alternate, smooth, lanceolate, dark green, fernlike, leaves are pinnately divided, their segments acute and toothed.
Blooming from July to September, the golden-yellow flowers (1/2 inch rayless buttons) grow in terminal, flattened cymes. The fruit is an achene (a small, dry fruit with one seed which is attached to the ovary wall only at one point). Pick tansy blossoms for drying as an ornamental in dry arrangements. Do not use tansy as a tea, food, or medicine; it can be toxic.
Where Found
Flourishes in waste places, fields, and at roadsides. Native European plant. It grows in Europe, in the United States from the Atlantic seaboard westward to Minnesota, and in Oregon and Nevada.
Medicinal Properties
Aromatic, diaphoretic, anthelmintic, emmenogogue (assists menstrual flow), carminative (relieves intestinal gas), vermifuge (expel intestinal worms) and tonic. Seeds: vermifuge
Biochemical Information
Essential oil, possibly thujone, bitter principles, glycosides, tanacetin 1 and 11, acid, resin, sugar, fat and cartenoids.
Legends, Myths and Stories
Tansy’s generic name, Tanacetum, is from the Greek word athanasia, “immortality”; in times past, coffins were filled with tansy to preserve corpses precisely because the flowers do not wilt when dried. Tansy was mentioned in writings as early as 5,000 BC. It reached its height of popularity in the Middle Ages. The whole plant has a camphoraceous odor. The plant is cultivated today for the oil which is so powerful that its use is not recommended except by a medical practitioner.
Used for thousands of years, until about the mid 19th century, as an embalming agent. Tansy is still used by some cultures for culinary as well as medicinal purposes. Tansy, a native of Europe, was one of the first plants brought to North America by European settlers; even before the Revolution it has escaped colonial gardens and was showing up along roadsides. In old-time gardens, tansy was grown around peach trees as a preventative against insects.
Uses
Historical herbalists employed tansy for circulation issues and varicose veins. Traditional preparations included infusions consumed as a beverage or applied topically to varicose veins, bruises, minor swellings, and sties. Some practitioners regarded the herb as a general tonic and utilized it for poor appetite, sciatica, toothache, sunburn, leukorrhea, and to promote menstruation.
The seeds were historically administered as a vermifuge for pinworms, while the oil was applied externally to injuries, bruises, and rheumatic complaints. In agricultural and household traditions, the insecticidal leaves were planted as companions to fruit trees, roses, and raspberries to deter flying insects, Japanese beetles, striped cucumber beetles, squash bugs, and ants.
Warning
The essential oil derived from tansy is very powerful, drastic in action, and poisonous in overdoses. Tansy can be poisonous even when applied externally; therefore, it is little used. An overdose of tansy oil or tea can be fatal. Oil is considered lethal. 1/2 oz. can kill in 2-4 hours. It is illegal to sell this herb as tea, food or medicine. May cause dermatitis. Use tansy only under medical supervision.
Bibliography
The Herb Book , by John Lust, Bantam Books, 666 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY. copyright 1974. , Loma Linda, CA 92354, Original copyright 1939, revised edition 1994 Indian Herbalogy of North America , by Alma R. , Horticultural Hall, 300 Massachusetts Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, 1973 Eastern/Central Medicinal Plants , by Steven Foster and James A. , Lotus Press, PO Box 325, Twin Lakes.
, 180 Varick Street, New York, NY 10014, first printed by the United States Government Printing Office, Washington, in 1928, this Dover edition 1974 American Folk Medicine , by Clarence Meyer, Meyerbooks, publisher, PO Box 427, Glenwood, Illinois 60425, 1973 Taber’s Cyclopedic Medical Dictionary , 15th Edition, F. A. , 15 Columbus Circle, New York, NY 10023 The Yoga of Herbs: An Ayurvedic Guide to Herbal Medicine , by Dr.
David Frawley & Dr. Vasant Lad, Lotus Press, Twin Lakes, Wisconsin, Second edition, 1988. The Rodale Herb Book: How to Use, Grow, and Buy Nature’s Miracle Plants (An Organic gardening and farming book) , edited by William H. Hylton, Rodale Press, Inc. , 1974