How to Harvest Feverfew
Always searching for a natural treatment to help alleviate pesky migraines? The answer may be found in feverfew, a plant with a famous history of soothing stubborn headaches.
An ancient medicinal, this perennial herb has made a resurgence in modern herb gardens for its useful therapeutic properties, particularly as a migraine remedy, as well as for its attractive daisy-like flowers that conveniently repel pests.
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Read on to learn how to harvest and use feverfew.
What Is Feverfew?This tender perennial is a member or the aster family, though it is often grown as an annual in cooler climates. It has light green hairy leaves and dense clusters of daisy-like flowers at the tops of its stalks.
The lovely little flowers look very similar to chamomile blooms, and the two are often confused.
To learn more about growing feverfew, check out the full guide here.
HistoryFeverfew has a long history of use in traditional and folk medicine for treatment of many ailments such as headaches, fevers, rheumatoid arthritis, joint pain, toothaches, insect bites, and stomach aches.
Native to southeastern Europe, its use was widespread among early European herbalists.
It was named “parthenium” – now part of its botanical name Tanacetum parthenium – by ancient Greeks.
The name parthenium is derived from either the Greek word παρθένος (parthenos), meaning “virgin,” or παρθένιον (parthenion), an ancient name for a plant.
As legend goes, the herb was used to save the life of someone who had fallen from the Parthenon during its construction in the fifth century BC.
In 1772 John Hill referred to feverfew in his
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