Tanacetum parthenium

Feverfew was once commonly used in Europe to reduce fevers and chills, hence its common name ‘feverfew’ (Latin febrifugia). The first-century Greek physician Dioscorides prescribed feverfew for “all hot inflammations”.

Warm infusions were given to purge chole r and to treat the common cold, febrile diseases, bring on menstruation and expel worms. A decoction of feverfew (a strong tea) was given to ease a cough, wheezing and breathing difficulties.

In English folk medicine, feverfew was reportedly bound close to the skin, perhaps around the wrists for this purpose during the medieval period.

According to one story in Ancient Greece, feverfew was used to save the life of someone who had fallen from the Parthenon, the Doric temple dedicated to the goddess Athena, on the Acropolis in Athens. This is where feverfew gained its name parthenium.

It is also possible that the Greco-Roman practice of using feverfew for treating menstrual cramps in young women may have suggested the name parthenium, as “parthenos” means “virgin” in Greek.

Feverfew has a very long-standing tradition for use in the treatment of headaches, migraine headaches, rheumatoid arthritis, stomach aches, toothaches and insect bites in Greek and early European herbalists. The English Herbalist Gerard (1400s), for instance, says of it: “very good for them that are giddie in the head” and “for such as be melancholic, sad, pensive and without speech.”