Feverfew Tanacetum parthenium
Feverfew is native to South-Eastern Europe, and was introduced to Britain in medieval times. It escaped ‘over the garden wall’ and is now widely naturalised. This herbaceous perennial develops into a small ‘shrub’, the daisy-like flowers rising on thin stalks above bright green feathery – and pungent – leaves. Other common names are Bachelor’s Buttons (usually for the double-flowered variety) Ague-Plant, and Featherfew.
There are several garden cultivars, including the golden-leaved Tanacetum parthenium Aureum. Many insect pests are repelled by feverfew, so some people like to grow it in the herb garden as a companion plant for mint and thyme; but it can also deter useful insects so should perhaps be used sparingly.
As a member of the Asteraceae plant family, touching its leaves may cause a skin rash in those people who are allergic to chemicals in this plant family. The leaves are edible, but taste very bitter. The common name comes from the Latin febrifugia, meaning “fever reducer”, reflecting its history in treating fevers and inflammations.
Medicinal Uses
Feverfew was used as a medicinal plant by the ancient Egyptians and Greeks. Dioscorides, the Greek physician writing in the 1st century AD, prescribed feverfew for ‘all hot inflammations’.
Nicolas Culpeper, in the 17th century, knew it as Featherfew, and described it as a garden flower. He and, later in the century John Gerard, promoted this ‘bitter herb’ for women’s ailments. Both wrote about its use in cleansing the womb after childbirth, and Culpeper claimed it was of ‘general utility to the fair sex’, and suggested women take a regular decoction of feverfew in wine. It should probably be mentioned here that medieval (and later) practitioners often prescribed strange or dubious herbal remedies for what was, to them, the mystery of women’s health.
In addition, Culpeper recommended feverfew lotion to ‘take away freckles’; and considered its use particularly effective against ‘the too liberal use of opium’.
Other traditional uses included making a syrup made with feverfew and honey for cough, sore throat, and relief of catarrh. Similarly, mixed with wine it was reputed to alleviate cases of what we would now call depression and anxiety.
Though some of these historical applications have fallen out of use, a belief in feverfew’s efficacy against headaches persisted, and modern research has endorsed its usefulness in this regard.
After anecdotal reports of its success by their patients, in the late 1970s the London Migraine Clinic carried out a number of studies. Since then, further research has isolated the active chemical compounds to use in herbal medicines. However, many people continue to harvest their medicine direct from the plant, while others make sandwiches with the leaves – though chewing raw leaves can cause mouth ulcers.
In 2019, a new possible medicinal application was reported. A research team at the University of Birmingham extracted and modified a compound, parthenolide, from the flowers, and successfully killed the cells of a type of leukaemia in the laboratory. Although parthenolide is available commercially, it is extremely expensive; and this research showed an alternative source might be possible.
WARNING: Feverfew is not advised for people regularly taking any of the following:
- anti-coagulant medication (warfarin, heparin etc);
- NSAIDs (aspirin, ibuprofen, naproxen, diclofenac etc);
- Vitamin E supplements.
Myth and Magic
It was believed that planting feverfew by the door of the house would help protect the residents from the plague. According to some recent data, it is possible that the rats carrying the plague-infested fleas were repelled by the strong, somewhat unpleasant, odour of the plant.
Anglo-Saxons thought that sudden stabbing pains were magically produced by invisible fairy folk shooting ‘elf arrows’, and that feverfew leaves could cure them.
Modern witch-lore suggests that the plant can heal a wounded heart.
Acknowledgments thanks for much information to the following:
www.nccih.nih.gov
www.sciencedirect.com
www.birmingham.ac.uk
www.gardeningknowhow.com
www.witchesandpagans.com
Richard Mabey’s Flora Britannica
