home
mountain rose herbs
Custom Search

Annies Aromatherapy

Chart of Herbs

Herbal Remedies

Methods

Health Conditions

Herb Store
Tansy Tanacetum vulgare

Benefits | Preparation | Medicinal Uses | Side Effects | Plant | Folklore | Tansy Remedies
buyBuy Bulk Tansy From Mountain Rose Herbs

spiral whorls of tansy
spiral whorls of tansy
Common Names
Tansy , Bitter Buttons
Botanical Name
Tanacetum vulgare
Family
ASTERACEAE or COMPOSITAE Sunflower family
Tansy Medicinal Properties & Benefits
Common Uses: Amenorrhea * Anxiety/Panic * Insect Repellent * Parasites/Worms * Scabies/Lice *
Properties: Antiparasite* Emmenagogue* Stimulant* Carminative* Abortifacient*
Parts Used: The leaves and tops. The plant is cut off close above the root, when first coming into flower in August.
Constituents: Volatile oil (containing up to 70% thujone), bitter glycosides, sesquiterpene lactones, terpenoids including pyrethrins, tannin, resin, vitamin C, citric acid, oxalic acid

Tansy is a widely grown herb with a number of traditional medicinal uses, but needs to be used with an abundance of caution. Older herbals recommend the use of tansy for many purposes, one of the active constituents,thujone is toxic in large doses, The amount contained can vary from plant to plant.

Perhaps the most well known medicinal use of tansy was to bring on menstruation by drinking a strong tea made of tansy leaves and flowers. This can cause miscarriage and there have been reports of deaths in women attempting to use the tea as an abortifacient.

Although tansy is useful as a vermifuge, and as a poultice to treat skin infections, it might be wise to look to less dangerous herbs that can serve the same purposes.

Side Effects:
Do not use the herb while pregnant, as it is can cause miscarriage. Tansy essential oil is poisonous and should not be used under any circumstances. In large doses, Tansy becomes a violent irritant, and induces venous congestion of the abdominal organs.
How to Use: Tansy
Preparation Methods :Herbal infusion of 1 oz,. to a pint of boiling water

remedyRemedies using : Tansy

Tansey for :Worms
Worms Tansy, like wormwood, is rich in thujone which is potentially damaging to the central nervous system if taken in too large doses or for too long. However, in the hands of a trained herbalist it is useful for expelling worms (round-worm and threadworm).

Richard Mabey, The New Age Herbalist (1988)

Tansy for :Worms
Worms Tansy was largely used for expelling worms in children, the infusion of 1 OZ. to a pint of boiling water being taken in teacupful doses, night and morning, fasting. Note: Most modern herbalists warn against its use by laymen. The active constituents are toxic in large doses.

Maud Grieve, Modern Herbal Volume 2 (1931)

Tansy for :Kidney and nerves
Kidney and nerves Tansy is also valuable in hysteria and in kidney weaknesses, the same infusion being taken in wineglassful doses, repeated frequently. It forms an excellent and safe emmenagogue, and is of good service in low forms of fever, in ague and hysterical and nervous affections. As a diaphoretic nervine it is also useful.

Maud Grieve, Modern Herbal Volume 2 (1931)

Tansy for :strong emmenagogue
strong emmenagogue Tansy is a strong emmenagogue (provoking the onset of a period) and should not be used in pregnancy. It can be fatal when taken in large doses.

Buy Bulk Tansy Herbs, Extracts, Capsules and Oils
Certified Organic Tansy herb
buyOrganic Tansy herb

referencesTansy Medicinal Uses & Benefits
Amenorrhea * Anxiety/Panic * Insect Repellent * Parasites/Worms * Scabies/Lice *
Plant Description


  • Flowers:Small, round, of tubular florets only, packed within a depressed involucre, and borne in flat-topped corymbs
  • Stem: 1 - 3 ft tall, leafy
  • Leaves:Deeply and pinnately cleft into narrow, toothed divisions; strong scented.
  • Preferred Habitat:Roadsides, commonly escaped from gardens.
  • Flowering Season:July - September
  • Distribution:Nova Scotia, westward to Minnesota, south to Missouri and North Carolina. Naturalized from Europe.

The name is said to be a corruption of athanasia, derived from two Greek words meaning immortality. When some monks in reading Lucian came across the passage where Jove, speaking of Ganymede to Mercury, says, "Take him hence, and when he has tasted immortality let him return to us," their literal minds inferred that this plant must have been what Ganymede tasted, hence they named it athanasia! So great credence having been given to its medicinal powers in Europe, it is not strange the colonists felt they could not live in the New World without tansy. Strong scented pungent tufts topped with bright yellow buttons - runaways from old gardens - are a conspicuous feature along many a roadside leading to colonial homesteads.

Netje Blanchan Wild Flowers worth Knowing(1917)

Folklore, Myths and Legends
History and Traditions
history

Tansy was a popular strewing herb in times past because it's clean, camphorous scent repelled flies and other pests. It is still customary to plant tansy outside the kitchen door, and around the garden for the same reasons.

Astrology:
folkloreThis herb is undoubtedly under the government of Venus. It is an agreeable bitter, a carminative, and a destroyer of worms, for which case a powder of the flowers should be given from six to twelve grains at night and mornings. Nicholas Culpeper
folkloreThe name Tansy is probably derived from the Greek Athanaton (immortal), either, says Dodoens, because it lasts so long in flower or, as Ambrosius thought, because it is capital for preserving dead bodies from corruption. It was said to have been given to Ganymede to make him immortal.
Quick Tips
Plant tansy outside the kitchen door, and around the edges of the vegetable garden to discourage flies and predatory insects.
mountain rose herbs

Common Misspellings:

aromatherapy and essential oils


Buy organic bulk herbs, spices, oils and teas at Mountain Rose Herbs
Organic herbs, spices, teas and oils.
Annies Remedy Newsletter
Email *
Confirm your email address

  Learn more


Buy bulk Tansy

Organic bulk herbs, spices, oils and teas at Mountain Rose Herbs
Organic herbs, spices, teas and oils.
Herbal Spotlight

Capsicum minimum

Cayenne Clinical studies have demonstrated cayennes value in alleviating pain and discomfort from rheumatoid arthritis. Salicylates (like those in aspirin) add to its pain-preventing power.

Exceptional quality all-natural and organic herbs, spices, teas and essential oils