Tansy or Mugwort Seeds ~ Tanacetum vulgare Seeds ~ Medicinal Herbs

Tansy is a flowering herbaceous plant with finely divided compound leaves and yellow, buttonlike flowers and a somewhat fernlike appearance. The scent is similar to that of camphor with hints of rosemary. The leaves and flowers are said to be poisonous if consumed in large quantities. The plant's volatile oil is high in thujone, a substance found in absinthe that can cause convulsions.

Tansy was formerly used as a flavoring for puddings and omelets, but is almost unknown now. As noted by Gerarde, Tansy was well known as "pleasant in taste", and he recommends tansy sweetmeats as "an especial thing against the gout, if every day for a certain space a reasonable quantity thereof be eaten fasting". In Yorkshire, tansy and caraway seeds were traditionally used in biscuits served at funerals. According to liquor historian A. J. Baime's book Big Shots, Tennessee whiskey magnate Jack Daniel enjoyed drinking his own whiskey with sugar and crushed tansy leaf.

For many years, tansy has been used as a medicinal herb. Irish folklore of the mid-1800s suggests bathing in a solution of tansy and salt as a cure for joint pain. Bitter tea made with the blossoms of T. vulgare has been effectively used for centuries as an anthelmintic (vermifuge). Tansy cakes were traditionally served during Lent because of a superstition that eating fish during Lent caused intestinal worms. Note that only T. vulgare is used in medicinal preparations; all species of tansy are toxic, and an overdose can be fatal. The dried flowering herb of Tanacetum is used ethnomedically to treat migraine, neuralgia, and rheumatism, and as an antihelminthic, in conjunction with a competent herbalist to circumvent any possible toxicity. Traditionally, tansy was often used for its emmenagogue effects, to bring on menstruation or end an unwanted pregnancy. Pregnant women should avoid this herb.