Tansy

Tanacetum vulgare

Historical tradition – not medical advice, and no health or healing claims. more

Historical botanical drawing: Tansy — Tansy

Tradition (Hildegard's writings)

In Hildegard's tradition, tansy was associated with the airways and the urinary tract.

Ingredients

The fresh herb without flowers and the dried leaves are used. Named constituents are the thujone-bearing essential oil, the bitter principle tanacetin, and phytosterols in the spring-pressed juice.

Note

The essential oil of tansy is rich in thujone and the flowers are regarded as poisonous; they are not used. Preparations draw solely on the fresh flowerless herb or on the spring-pressed juice, in which analyses have found no thujone. The once widespread use of tansy as a worming agent is now advised against.

Botanical background

Tansy is a member of the daisy family with doubly pinnate leaves. Its flower heads bear no ray florets and are gathered into a flat, umbel-like panicle. The plant smells strongly bitter and aromatic; it is widespread in central Europe and can be found in flower along waysides and railway embankments well into late autumn. Hildegard lists it in the Physica as warm and somewhat moist and mentions only the doubly pinnate leaves, which the literature reads as a possible sign that she may have known the plant to be poisonous. More recent analyses found no thujone in the pressed juice of spring tansy; it became detectable only once the plant was in flower, which is why the spring juice alone is worked up.

Sources & references

Hildegard von Bingen: Heilsame Schöpfung. Die natürliche Wirkkraft der Dinge (Physica). Hrsg. von der Abtei St. Hildegard, Eibingen. Beuroner Kunstverlag 2012 (4. Auflage 2024). Cap. 1-111.
Strehlow, Wighard: Die Hildegard-Naturapotheke. Heilmittel und Rezepte von A bis Z. Knaur Verlag 2014.
Strehlow, Wighard: Der Hildegard-Kompass. Die wichtigsten Heilmittel und Anwendungen. Knaur Verlag 2014.
Heepen, Günther H.: Das Heilwissen der Hildegard von Bingen. Gräfe und Unzer Verlag 2015.

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More preparations using Tansy

Tansy Elixir Tansy Flour

Historical tradition. The above describes how this preparation was recorded and used in the tradition of Hildegard of Bingen. This is cultural-historical information, not medical advice and not a health or healing claim, and it is no substitute for advice from a doctor or pharmacist. If you have health complaints, please consult your doctor or pharmacy.

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