Feverfew

Tanacetum parthenium

Also: Featherfew, Bachelor's buttons, Midsummer daisy

CoolingDryingTonifying

Taken daily, it cuts how often migraines come.

A bushy, pungent little daisy with yellow-green, ferny leaves and clouds of small white-rayed flowers. Feverfew, taken every day for months, makes migraines less frequent and less fierce, and cools inflammation.

Energetics: Cooling, drying
Taste: Very bitter, aromatic
Family: Asteraceae (daisy family)
Parts used: Leaves

Medicinal uses 4

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Traditional useLab and mechanism studiesClinical studies

MigraineTLC
Taken daily, reduced the number of migraine attacks in several trials, though results vary by product.
Tension headacheTLC
Helps chronic headaches that come with heat and inflammation.
Joint pain & arthritisTLC
A traditional anti-inflammatory for arthritic joints.
FeverTLC
Its old use, recorded in its name, was to cool a fever.

Preparations

Fresh leaves with food, daily capsules, and small tincture doses, taken for months.

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Cautions

Chewing fresh leaves causes mouth sores in some people; take them with food or in capsules.
Stopping suddenly after long use can bring rebound headaches and achy joints; taper off.
People allergic to ragweed or daisies can react to it, and it can thin the blood.

Medication interactions

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Pregnancy & breastfeeding

PregnancyAvoid

Feverfew stimulates the uterus and slows clotting, so it is avoided in pregnancy.

BreastfeedingAvoid

Its anti-clotting action could reach a nursing baby, and safety research is lacking.

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Folklore

The name comes from the Latin febrifugia, fever-chaser. Plutarch tells of a workman who fell while building on the Acropolis and was healed with an herb the goddess Athena showed Pericles in a dream; the herb was called parthenium. Its modern revival began in 1970s Britain, when Anne Jenkins, wife of a coal board doctor, found that a few leaves a day ended her migraines; trials at the City of London Migraine Clinic followed.

How to grow

An easy, short-lived perennial for sun and well-drained soil that self-sows everywhere. Pick leaves as needed through the growing season; a few plants keep a household supplied.

In the wild

Native to the Balkans and western Asia, now escaped along walls, roadsides, and old gardens across Europe and North America.

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