FEVERFEW
Tanacetum parthenium
(previously Chrysanthemum parthenium)

Location
In the pharmaceutical garden next to the Basic Science Building

Description
Feverfew is one to three feet high and has white flowers with ten to twenty oblong rays. The numerous flowerheads are one to two inches wide, and occur in clusters.  The leaves are divided into egg-shaped segments. (Newcomb 1977).

History
Feverfew is native to southeastern Europe.  According to Plutarch (45-120 AD), the herb is named parthenium because it was said to have saved a man’s life after falling from the Parthenon as it was being constructed between 447-432 BC.  Feverfew, as its name implies, was once commonly used to treat fevers and agues (an older term for chills, or malarial fever).  In the medieval period, it was observed: “it clenseth, purgeth and scoureth, and fully performeth all that bitter things can do.” (Le Strange 1977).

Country people throughout England once used feverfew in drinks and bound the herb on the wrists to fight against ague (Grieve 1998). Traditionally, feverfew was used as a tonic (Grieve 1998), for colic (Grieve 1998, Duke 2001), and as an emmenagogue (menses-inducer; sometimes the term is used as a code word for abortifacient).  It was also used for nervousness and lowness of spirits (what we would call depression today). A sweetened decoction was used for coughs and wheezing (Grieve 1998).  Other uses of feverfew are for migraines, colds, stomachache, menstrual irregularities, worms and other intestinal parasites, and as an antiseptic (Foster 1990, Duke 2001). Feverfew was a folk remedy for anemia, bilious conditions, bruises, cancer, diarrhea, dyspepsia, earache, spasms, and swellings (Duke 2001).

Europeans used feverfew as a sedative, an abortifacient, aperient (laxative), carminative (reduces gas), and as an insecticide. Costa Ricans use a decoction of the herb as a digestive and emmenagogue.  Guatemalans mix feverfew with Salvia microphylla as a treatment for diarrhea.  In New Mexico, a decoction was used in a sitz bath to stop menstruation.  (Duke 2001).

Current Medicinal Uses
The most popular current use of feverfew is for migraines. Migraine sufferers may grow this plant in order to chew a few fresh leaves to avert a headache, or may take fresh or dried herb daily as prophylaxis. No studies have examined feverfew for migraine treatment, but several trials have examined its use to prevent migraine. A systematic review of randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trials of feverfew for migraine prophylaxis found that four of six trials showed a positive effect (Ernst 2000). 

Adverse Effects
Feverfew can cause apthous ulcers, (mouth sores) oral pain, lip swelling, or dry tongue. It is not only fresh leaves that cause this effect.  Even capsules of dried feverfew can cause aphthous ulcers; apparently the effect is systemic (Awang 1993). Less common side effects include loss of taste, indigestion, diarrhea, flatulence, or nausea (Fugh-Berman 2003).

References
Awang DVC. Feverfew for migraine prevention. Alternative Therapies in Women’s Health 2000;8(2):62-63.

Duke JA. Handbook of Medicinal Herbs. CRC Press, Boca Raton, 2001.

Ernst E, Pittler MH. The efficacy and safety of feverfew (Tanacetum parthenium L): an update of a systematic review. Public Health Nutrition 2000;3 (4A):509-514.

Foster S, Duke JA. Eastern/Central Medicinal Plants. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, 1990:118.

Fugh-Berman A. The 5-Minute Herb and Dietary Supplement Consult. Lippincott, Williams, and Wilkins, Baltimore, 2003:130-131.

Grieve M. A Modern Herbal. Tiger Books International, London, 1998 (first published in 1931 by Jonathan Cape Ltd).

Le Strange, R. A History of Herbal Plants. Arco Publishing Company, Inc., New York, 1977.

Newcomb L. Newcomb’s Wildflower Guide. Little, Brown and Company, Boston, 1977.