Tansy

(Tanacetum vulgare, L., Compositae).

Also called: Buttons.

Description: Handsome perennial plant with a short rhizome producing several stems more than 1 m (3ft) high.
The stem branches at the top on which are the flat topped bright yellow heads.
Leaves downy, 1 -2-pinnate, the margins of leaflets are dentate and grow alternately up the stem.
They are about 4 inches wide, deeply divided like a feather, dark green with about twelve pointed serrated segments on either side.
The capitula, arranged in almost flat unibels, are golden-yellow, about 1 cm (0 4in) in diameter, florets all tubular, short.
Flowering: June­August.
All parts of the plant have a strong aromatic odour, the leaves smell like camphor

Parts Used: Dried flowering plant; more frequently the dried flowerheads.

Habitat and Collection: This herb is found growing in hedgerows , waste ground, roadsides and sunny embankments throughout central Europe. Common in Britain Collected when in flower and dried in the shade at less than 35' C (95 F).

Constituents and Action: Mainly a volatile oil containing large amounts of the poisonous thujone.
Used as a vermifuqe (roundworms. threadworms).
Tansy also stimulates blood flow to the abdominal organs.
The plant also contains a bitter principle.
It is good for some eruptive conditions of the skin and hot fomentations wrung out of tansy tea are excellent for inflammations, bruising, freckles and sunburn.
Tansy tea should be taken freely instead of the usual Indian variety and it is excellent for the skin and many blemishes.
'This Balsemic plant,' said Boerhaave, 'will supply the place of nutmegs and cinnamon'.
Tansy is an old well-known family remedy used to tone up the system.

Usage:
More effective and less dangerous vermifuges are known.
To drink as a tea put 1½ teaspoonsful in a 1½ pint teapot and infuse for five or six minutes before drinking.
The flavour is slightly tart and peppery.
An infusion is made by pouring 1 pint of boiling water on to 1 oz. of the herb and a wineglassful taken freely.

CAUTION: Some races of the species are much more highly toxic than others and they cannot be distinguished by external characters.
The plant should not be used medicinally especially in pregnancy.
Large doses produce vertigo, cramps, and chest pains and may prove fatal.

Points of interest: The name comes from Athanasia, an ancient word for immortality, because it flowers for a very long time.
The taste is aromatic and the shredded leaves were employed until a short time ago, and may still be in some country districts, for flavouring cakes and puddings.

Tansy cakes were made in olden days and eaten during Lent in remembrance of the bitter herbs taken at the Passover. They were served at the coronation feast of James II and his Queen Mary of Modena, together with some fifteen hundred 'dishes of delicious viands including four fauns, stag's tongues, gotwits; brown buds and taffeta tarts'.