Feverfew

Yesterday a friend called to tell me that she had a migraine headache. Never having experienced this, it is hard to imagine but they tell me that it is the granddaddy of all headaches.

With all of that in mind, it was time to write about a Chrysanthemum plant that is in blossom at this time called FEVERFEW. One of the interesting things that I have read about this plant is that it is commonly consumed by chewing fresh leaves. Another things that I learned was that if one is subjected to migraines, Feverfew should be taken daily instead of when one feels the migraine coming on.

I did find a lot of components in Feverfew that were antimigraine , but there were a lot that were also vascodilators. I suppose that if you put those two properties together, you can really relieve a lot of problems.

Research has actually shown that it is better at reducing inflammation and fevers than even aspirin.

In Europe it was used for relief of depression, nausea and arthritic pain. It is said to be a general tonic for the body.

One of the other bits of information that I found was that it relieves asthma attacks. I did find some antihistamine properties in this herb also.

In folklore, plants were usually named for what they were most used for and this one got the name of Feverfew but it was used for many things. Long before it was used as a headache remedy; it was used to drive out fevers. Sometimes it was use to help with delivering the afterbirth in childbirth. It was great for hot swellings (inflammations.)

The GLOBALHERB program has a list of things that Feverfew is good at. They are: Fever, Colds, Colic, Hysteria, Indigestion, Nerve Pressure, Amenorrhea, Anemia, Arthritis, Cancer, Diarrhea, Dizziness, Dyspepsia, Earache, Excess Heat, Flatulence, Flu, Hay Fever, Headache, Insect bites, Migraine, Psoriasis, Spasms, Tension, Wheezing, and Worms. I would say that is a lot for one small plant to take on.

Culpepper wrote "Troubled with melancholy and heaviness or sadness of spirit?" when talking about Feverfew.

As for growing this plant, it tends to reseed itself and it tried to take over my peppermint bed this year. As a gardener, one must always set limits and this is a plant that needs to be limited.