Feverfew,Dioscorides's Fever Reducer or febrifugia,what is the history of this pretty daisy-like flower?

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Cultivation of FeverFew:Feverfew Related Species.

Feverfew Extract INCI Name Chrysanthemum Parthenium Extract CAS 89997-65-9 EINECS ELINCS No 289-701-2 Tanacetum parthenium photo picture image Feverfew is a perennial, and herbaceous in habit. When once planted it gives year after year an abundant supply of blossoms with only the merest degree of attention. Planting may be done in autumn, but the best time is about the end of April. Any ordinary good soil is suitable, but better results are obtained when well-drained, and of a stiff, loamy character, enriched with good manure. Weeding should be done by hand, the plants when first put out being small might be injured by hoeing.

 There are three methods of propagation: by seed, by division of roots and by cuttings. If grown by seed, it should be sown in February or March, thinned out to 2 to 3 inches between the plants, and planted out early in June to permanent quarters, allowing a foot or more between the plants and 2 feet between the rows, selecting, if possible, a showery day for the operation. They will establish themselves quickly. To propagate by division, lift the plants in March, or whenever the roots are in an active condition, and with a sharp spade, divide them into three or five fairly large pieces. Cuttings should be made from the young shoots that start from the base of the plant, and should be taken with a heel of the old plant attached, which will greatly assist their rooting. They may be inserted at any time from October to May. The foliage must be shortened to about 3 inches, when the cuttings will be ready for insertion in a bed of light, sandy soil, in the open. Plant very firmly, surface the bed with sand, and water in well. Shade is necessary while the cuttings are rooting.

 Keep a good watch at all times for snails, slugs and black fly. For the latter pest, try peppering the plants; for the others use soot, ashes or lime. Toads will keep a garden free of slugs.

 'A few pots placed on their sides may be dotted about the garden, and it will be found that the toads will sit in these when they are not hunting around for their prey. The creatures are not at all likely to leave the garden, seeing that if the supply of slugs runs short they will turn their attention to all kinds of insects.' (S. L. B.)

 Feverfew Related Species.:

 Other Species: Sweet Feverfew (Chrysanthemum Suaveolens) and C. maritima, found by the seashore, especially in the north, with leaves broader, more fleshy, succulent and smaller flowerheads than the Common Feverfew.

 Parthenium integrifolium, Linne (more); Cutting almond. This plant, also known by the name of Nephritic plant, is indigenous and perennial, with an erect, striate, pubescent stem, from 3 to 6 feet in height. Leaves alternate, lance-ovate, hispid-scabrous, coarsely dentate-crenate, coriaceous, lower ones petiolate, upper sessile, sometimes clasping, 4 to 12 inches long, about half as wide. Radical petioles a foot long. Heads many-flowered, tomentose, corymbed; ray-flowers 5, somewhat ligulate, fertile; disk-flowers tubular, sterile. Involucre hemispherical, 5-leaved; scales in 2 series, outer ovate, dilated, inner orbicular; receptacle minute, conical, chaffy; achenia 5, obovate, compressed, cohering with 2 contiguous paleae. It is sometimes known as Prairie dock (W.). This plant grows in the middle and western states, in dry soils, flowering from July to September. The root is the part used. Its growth is singular; it issues from a head or caudex, at first small, but gradually increases in size, and terminates very abruptly, giving off other roots of a similar form, each being a distinct root, about the size and shape of a radish, but growing horizontally, and sending up stems from near the large ends of the principal roots, which are blackish outside, and bluish-gray within. According to analysis by Frank B. Meyer (Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1881, p. 494), the bitterness of the drug is due to a crystallizable substance obtained by abstracting the powdered drug first with petroleum benzin, which removes a dark-green wax; then with ether, and taking up the ethereal extract with boiling water. The crystals turn deep-red with ferric chloride, and do not reduce Fehling's solution. The liquid preparations of the drug possess an agreeable orange-like odor. Diuretic. A cold infusion of the root, in wineglassful doses, 3 or 4 times a day, will be found very beneficial in heat of the urine, strangury, dysuria, gonorrhoea, gravel, and diseases of the kidneys and bladder generally. It is highly recommended by some practitioners in these diseases. Likewise said to be an aromatic bitter and stimulant. The flowering tops have been used as an antiperiodic. Two fluid ounces of their infusion have no unpleasant influence on the nervous system, and are said to be equal to 20 grains of sulphate of quinine (Houlton).

 Parthenium Hysterophorus, Linne (more), is employed like feverfew. It resembles cutting almond, and is indigenous to Louisiana, Florida, and the West Indian Islands. It is a common weed in Jamaica. Dr. Jose R. Tovar, of Cuba, employed parthenin obtained from this plant, in cases of facial neuralgia with much success (Therap. Gazette, 1885, p. 359). M. Guyet (Proc. Amer. Pharm. Assoc., 1886, p. 416) points out the complex composition of this active constituent, which he states is not a definite body. Dr. Carlos Ulrici (see Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1886, p. 451, and Merck's Bulletin, Oct., 1888, p. 53) found in the drug five alkaloids, parthenicine being the active, bitter and crystallizable principle, quite readily soluble in hot water. Uncrystallizable parthenic acid is likewise present. Dr. Harry V. Arny observed that the plant is richest in the active bitter principle in the months of June and July, when about 1 per cent may be obtained therefrom in large crystals. It is not a glucosid as was first supposed, nor an alkaloid. A volatile oil containing a camphor was obtained by distillation with steam (Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1897, p. 169). Small doses (3 grains) of the total active principle quicken, and larger doses (15 grains) retard cardiac movements. Large doses (50 grains) slow the respiration, reduce arterial tension, and bring down the temperature.
 Feverfew Extract INCI Name Chrysanthemum Parthenium Extract CAS 89997-65-9 EINECS ELINCS No 289-701-2 Tanacetum parthenium photo picture image

 Feverfew. Chrysanthemum parthenium.:

 Feverfew is an escapee from cultivation that has small groups of daisy-like flowers. It is known to help with migraine headaches that benefit from warmth to the head. It was once so respected it was planted near homes to ward off disease. The active constituents contain anti-inflammatory, anti-spasmodic, vasodilatory and relaxant properties.

 In lover's flower language it means: "Protection" - "Let me shield you". It is a useful plant to have in the garden as Hoverflies like it and they are a natural predator to many insects. According to Gerard "Feverfew dreed and mad into pouder, and two drams of it taken with honey or sweet wine, purgeth by seige melancholy and flegme: whereforeit is very good for them that are giddie in the head...melancholike, sad, pensive and without speech".

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citations1.Feverfew,Dioscorides's Fever Reducer or febrifugia,what is the history of this pretty daisy-like flower?

last edit date:20th,June.2009.