Intriguing World of Weeds Tansy1

LARRY W. MITICH2

INTRODUCTION lems and to heal sores (10). In the Middle Ages and Common tansy [ vulgare (L.) Bernb. later, it was used as an abortifacient (9), probably in #3CHYVU], a native of and Asia, is a perennial high doses; conversely, it was reported to help women herbaceous composite growing conceive (8) and to prevent miscarriages (10). In Eu­ erect to 1 m. It bears finely divided rope and in colonial America, it was worn in shoes to and, in summer, um:bels of prevent ague and (8). Tansy was also used as a small, button-sh~ed yellow flow­ face wash reported to lighten and purify the skin (10). ers. It has had many traditional uses Tansy is still a component of some medicines and is as medicine, preservative, and listed in the United States Pharmacopoeia as a treat­ repellent from Medieval times to ment for feverish colds and jaundice (8). modern-uses which have been Tansy was often administered in tea, which not validated by contemporary re­ everyone found palatable. In An Almanac for Moderns, search. 1935, John Culross Peattie referred to tansy tea, per­ haps with a touch of nostalgia, as "a nasty and I think THE MANY USES OF TANSY quite harmful medicament" (5). Christians of the 15th century began adding tansy to When the first president of Harvard died in July their coo.king at Lent to commemorate the bitter herbs 1668, he was laid to rest wearing a tansy wreath and eaten by the Israelites at Pentecost (5, 8). Moreover, as lying in a coffin packed with tansy. When Harvard's William Turner explained in A New Herball "God's Acre" was exhumed for relocation in 1846, the (1551-1568), "After Easter men should use tanseyes to tansy still held its shape and fragrance, and helped to drive away the wyndenes yt they have gotten all the identify the president's remains (8). lent before with eatyng of fish, peasen, beanes and l For centuries, foliage of tansy and certain closely diverse kynds of wynde making herbes" (10): i.e., tansy i related species has been used as a su~stitute for em­ helped control Lenten flatulence invoked by many balming the dead (17). It was wrapped in funeral wind­ days' consumption of dried beans, peas, and fish. J r ing sheets to discourage worms (17), as it was observed Recipes evolved making ,the herb a palatable and I that tansy ointments were useful in repelling insects; eventually desirable part of puddings and omelettes (5, the longevity of tansy's dried and scent may 8), and tansy came to have an honorable place in I have had a more symbolic value. Funereal use of tansy culinary writings of the time. In Europe and in colonial a was so prevalent in New England through die 19th America, meat was packed in tansy or rubbed with it to century that some came to loathe it for its morbid and ( prevent decay and to repel flies (8). mournful associations (5). In 1942, Georgia wrote, "The oil distilled from the 1:: The ancient used tansy medicinally. It was , mixed with that of Fleabane and Pennyroyal and s grown in the herb garden of Charlemagne the Great in diluted with alcohol, makes a 'mosquito dope' useful to 0 the 8th century, and knowledgeable Benedictine monks hunters and fisherman and others who must work where grew it at the Swiss monastery of St. Gall (10). TaJ)Sy mosquitos are troublesome. Collectors receive three to was considered a cure for intestinal worms (17); it five cents a pound for the dried leaves and tops, :helped with rheumatism and 'brought out' the measles gathered when in full bloom" (7). ,(5) and fevers (10); it helped to relieve digestive prob- Tansy has been the subject of a great deal of modem research-initially in investigation of its medicinal, repellent, and preservative properties, and later because lNo. 35 of the series '1ntriswni World of Weeds." Contributions are it was found that essential oils of this plant vary greatly welcome and will be acknowledged. Send contn'lmtions to :I;arry W. Milich. 2Bxt. Weed Sci., Dep. Bot., Univ. Calif., Davis, CA 95616. with seasons and between individuals (4). Now several ic 3Letters following this symbol are a WSSA~approved computer code distinct chemotypes are recognized. Some of bacterial m .from Coll!P<>site List of Weeds, Revised 1989. Available from WSSA, 30CJ W. Clark St., Champaign, ll. 61820. and fungicidal (4), some repel the Colorado potato al

242 Weed Technology. 1992. Volume 6:242-244 Ve WEED TECHNOLOOY beetle (15). Reseachers also have found that tansy thanatos, death), in reference to the extracts do indeed repel mosquitoes, though not as plant's medicinal qualities, everlasting effectively as commercial preparations containing scent, and preservative uses. The Romans diethyltoluamide (4). knew it as tenacetumjj1) [recognizable in Old herbals caution against consuming too much the modem Spanish tanaceto (3)]. In me­ tansy. In modem documentation, overdoses have caused dieval Latin, circa A.D. 1250, the plant gastritis, convulsions, and death in humans; circumstan­ was known as tanazetum (and many varia­ tial evidence links tansy with cattle abortions in Penn-. tions thereof) or athanacetum (16), which sylvania, though animals rarely eat it (9). was corrupted to tanesie in Old French (5). This gave us tanai#e, as the French know it now (3)-and, of course, tansy. ORIGINS AND DISTRIBUTION Vulgare, from the Latin, is a specific epithet fre­ quently appearing in the names of weeds; it is usually As it occupied the herb gardens of Europe and Asia, used to mean "ordinary" or "common". so did tansy occupy the herbals. In the 1500s Dr. Johann Jacob Bemhardi (1774-1850) reclassified Andrew Boorde published his populist and influential tansy as· Chrysanthemum vulgare, placing the plant in a Breviary of Health, which so highly recommended closely related genus of which Tanacetum is sometimes tansy that Governor Winthrop of Massachusetts listed considered a subgenus (1). At some point, however, the tansy as one of the necessary for colonial herb original Linnaean name won out. gardens (8). John Josselyn visited New England in 1638 and 1663 and found tansy flourishing in the gardens TANSY RELATIVES there (5). With so much human aid in its dissemination, tansy inevitably found a purchase in fields and on The genus, Tanacetum includes about 50 species of roadsides. By 1785 it was considered naturalized herbaceous plants and subshrubs, both annual and throughout the northeast (8). perennial, mostly native to the old world (1). Wrote Darlington in American Weeds and Useful Tansy's fellow weeds include the following related species, all natives of Europe and Asia, and all with Plants (1859), "[Tansy] was ...generally cultivated for long herbal pedigrees. its aromatic bitter properties,-which have rendered it a Tanacetum parthenium (L.) Schultz-Bip # CHYPA, prominent article in the popular Materia Medica. It has now Chrysanthemum parthenium (L.) Bernh., feverfew, now escaped from the gardens, and is becoming is also a tra~tional medicinal herb, once used as an naturalized-and something of a weed-in many anti-pyretic and to 'relieve female discomfort'; its es­ places" (3). sential oils consistently contain a higher percentage of As of 1912, tansy was known "as far west as Iowa camphor than do tansy's (4). Its specific name refers to and Kansas" (13). By 1951, it was well-documented in a story told by the Greek writer Plutarch (A.D. 45-120) California (14). Tansy is now a problem along ditch­ that feverfew was used to save the life of a man who banks, fencerows, and roadsides in temperate western fell from the Parthenon during its construction states such as Idaho and Wyoming (6, 11), and its (447-432 B.C.) (10). occupation of the United States seems complete. C. balsamita L. # CHYBA, costmary chrysanthe­ mum, was used through the 18th century in ointments, medicine, tea, and cooking (10). TANSY AND ITS NAMES C. leucanthemum L. # CHYLE, oxeye daisy, was Tansy's other common names include bitter buttons widely used in medicine from ancient times through the 1800s. Herbalists still prescribe it for its diuretic and (from the taste of the plant and the shape of the antispasmodic principles; in Italy, the young leaves may heads), ginger plant, parsley fem (7), scented fem, appear in salads (10). cheese (10), hindhead (12) or hindheal (2). Carolus Linnaeus (1707-1778) gave tansy the botan­ LITERATURE CITED ical name by which we know it today. According to most sources, tanacetum is derived from the Greek 1. Bailey, L. H. and B. Z. Bailey. 1976. Hortus Third. Macmillan PubL Co., Inc., New York. athanatos, or immortality (~-, without or not, plus 2. Britton, N. L., and A. Brown. 1898. An IDusttated Flora of the

Volume 6, Issue 1 (January-March) 1992 243 MITICH

Northern United States, Canada and the British Possessions. Volume Canada. Prentice-Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey. m. Charles Scn1mer's Sons, New York. 10. LeStrange, R. 1977. A History of Herbal Plants. Angus & Robertson, 3. Darlington, W. 18S9. American Weeds and Useful Plants. Orange Judd London. & Company, New York. 11. Miller, T. W., and R.H. Callihan. 1991. Control of common tansy in 4. DePooter, H. L, 1. Vermeesch, and N. M. Schamp. 1989. 1. Essential pasture. West. Soc. Weed Sci. Res. Prog. Rep., p. 47. Oil Res. 1(1):9-13. 12. Muenscher, W. C. 1935. Weeds. Macmillan Publ. Co. Inc., New York. 5. Durant, M. 1976. Who Named the Daisy? Who Named the ? 13. Pammel, L. H. 1912. W~s of the Farm and Garden. Orange Judd Co,. Dodd, Mead & Company, New York. New York. 6. Ferrell, M. A., and T. D. Whitson. 1987. Evaluation of herbicide 14. Robbins, W. W., M. K. Bellue, and W. S. Ball. 1951. Weeds of treatments on common tansy (Tanacetum vulgare L.). West. Soc. Weed California. Calif. Dep. Agric., Sacramento. Sci. Res. Prog. Rep., p. 54-55. 15. Schearer, W. R. 1984. Components of oil of tansy (Tanace-tum vul­ 7. Georgia, A. E. 1942. A Manual of Weeds. The MacMillan Company, gare) that repel (Leptinotarsa decemlineata). 1. New York. Nat. Prod. 47(6):964-969. 8. Hanghton, C. S. 1978. Green Immigrants. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 16. Simpson, J. A., and E.S.C. Weiner. 1989. The Oxford English Diction­ Inc., New York. ary, 2nd Ed. Clarendon Press, Oxford. 9. Kingsbury, J. M. 1964. Poisonous Plants of tho United States and 17. Zimdahl, R. L. 1989. Weeds and Words. Iowa State Univ. Press, Ames.

244 Volumd 6, Issue 1 (January-March) 1992