Popular names: wild mountain ash, helminth, button.
Common Tansy (Tanacetum vulgare L.)Perennial herbaceous plant of the Asteraceae family (Compositae), with a strong camphor smell, up to 150 cm in height, with a horizontal rhizome and thin cord-like root lobes. The stem is strong, erect, branched in the inflorescence. The leaves are alternate, pinnately dissected into linear-lanceolate dentate lobes. The lower leaves are on petioles, the rest are sessile, dark green above, grayish-green below, seated with dotted glands. Flower baskets are rounded, flat, many-flowered, bright yellow, collected at the top of the stem and branches in dense corymbose inflorescences. All flowers in baskets are tubular. The fruit is a small, oblong achene, there are hundreds of thousands of them on the bush. Blossoms in July – August, fruits ripen in August – September. Tansy blooms in the second year. Reproduces vegetatively and by seeds. Distributed almost throughout the CIS. It grows on dry and fresh sandy, loamy and clay soils in light, mixed, broad-leaved forests, along edges, glades, along road shoulders. The plant is poisonous, especially the inflorescences!
COLLECTION AND DRYING OF RAW MATERIALS
Medicinal raw materials are inflorescences of tansy. They are harvested at the beginning of flowering, breaking off or cutting off the baskets and parts of complex corymbose inflorescences with a common peduncle no more than 4 cm long (from the upper baskets). Browned inflorescences cannot be harvested. It is undesirable to harvest in heavily polluted places – on railway embankments, especially in the vicinity of stations, along highways. Dry under a canopy, in attics, in air or heat dryers at a temperature not exceeding 40 ° C, distributing a thin layer (based on 1 kg of raw materials per 1 m 2planes); in the process of drying, turn over 1-2 times. Turn over carefully, especially at the end of drying, so as not to cause shedding of flowers. The shelf life of raw materials is 3 years. The dried raw material consists of single flower baskets of dark yellow color in a gray-green wrapper, without pedicels, when rubbed with a peculiar camphor smell, bitter-spicy taste.
PHARMACOLOGICAL PROPERTIES
Tansy preparations increase blood pressure, slow down the heart rate, increase the amplitude of heart contractions, increase bile secretion and secretion of the gastrointestinal tract, increasing the tone in the aftermath. The choleretic properties of the plant are due to flavonoids. In addition, common tansy has diaphoretic, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, antihelminthic, anti-febrile properties. Essential oil has a strong local irritant effect, excites the central nervous system.
APPLICATIONS IN MEDICINE
Aboveground part. In folk medicine – with ascariasis, enterobiasis, hypacid gastritis, colitis, hepatitis, cholecystitis, hypotension, nervous agitation, gastric ulcer and duodenal ulcer with low acidity of gastric juice; externally – festering wounds are washed; decoction inside – with gastritis, colitis, hypotonic disease; externally – they wash long non-healing wounds, ulcers, make compresses for gout, rheumatism, dislocations, bruises. Flowers. In folk medicine, infusion – for the expulsion of ascaris and pinworms, with gastrointestinal diseases (gastritis, peptic ulcer of the stomach and duodenum, enterocolitis), diseases of the liver and gallbladder (hepatitis, cholecystitis, angiocholitis), nervous disorders, headache, women’s diseases , fever, arterial hypotension; externally (in the form of baths and compresses) – for rheumatism, gout; for washing purulent wounds. Powder (with honey or sugar syrup) – with ascariasis, enterobiasis. Juice – for intoxication caused by pulmonary tuberculosis, fever, peptic ulcer of the stomach and duodenum, gout, rheumatism, nervous diseases, epilepsy, migraine, headache, aching joints, low acidity, infectious and acute respiratory diseases, inflammation of the small and large intestines , bladder, kidneys; with urolithiasis, menstrual disorders and heavy menstruation; has a hypnotic effect; externally (in the form of baths and compresses) – for the treatment of sluggish wounds and ulcers, with scabies, gout, inflammation of the joints; in the form of microclysters – for the expulsion of roundworms and pinworms. In France, tansy flowers are used as an antihelminthic, antifebrile, antiseptic, gastrointestinal agent. Seeds. In folk medicine, infusion (in the form of enemas) – with enterobiasis. Powder – with ascariasis.
DOSAGE FORMS, METHOD OF APPLICATION AND DOSES
Tansy flowers (Flores Tanaceti) are available in packs of 100 g. Prepared as an infusion: 1 tablespoon of raw materials per 200 ml of boiling water. Take 1 tablespoon 3 times every day as an antihelminthic for ascariasis and enterobiasis, as well as a choleretic agent. Take 1 tablespoon 3-4 times every day. ♦ Decoction of tansy herb: boil 20 g of raw materials in 200 ml of water for 5 minutes, leave for 30 minutes, then filter. It is taken warm 1/2 cup 3 times every day.♦ Infusion of tansy seeds: 5 g of raw material is poured into 200 ml of boiling water, insisted for 1 hour, then filtered. Take 1 tablespoon 4-5 times every day. ♦ Decoction of tansy flowers: 20 g of flowers, 2-3 cloves of garlic are boiled in 400 ml of milk over low heat for 5-10 minutes, then filtered. It is used for enemas with worms.♦ Tansy flower powder is taken 3 g 2-3 times every day, stirring with honey or sugar syrup. h, then filter.♦ Tansy seed powder is taken 3 g 2-3 times every day.♦ Tansy juice is squeezed out of flower baskets at the beginning of flowering. Take 30-50 drops 5-6 times every day with honey (possible with milk) before meals. CONTRAINDICATIONS AND POSSIBLE SIDE EFFECTS: Common tansy treatment will need to be carried out under medical supervision, as the plant is poisonous. Pregnant women and young children should not be prescribed tansy products. With an overdose, indigestion, vomiting begins, and at large doses – convulsions. With resorptive action, kidney damage is noted; from the side of the central nervous system – initial hyperflexion with subsequent depression. First aid consists in washing the stomach with an aqueous suspension of activated charcoal, a 0.1% solution of potassium permanganate and taking enveloping agents (starch mucus, etc.). Exodus. Pregnant females may have miscarriages.
APPLICATIONS IN OTHER FIELDS
The plant is used as a substitute for cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, hops, and for flavoring liqueurs. It is put in salads, puddings, muffins, used for canning meat, fish, vegetable dishes. Together with oregano and oak bark, it is part of the aromatic mixture for game dishes. From the roots you can get a green dye. Insecticide for fleas, bedbugs, cockroaches. A decoction of tansy herb is used against gooseberry moth. Cattle can eat tansy with a monotonous diet only as a spicy-flavoring additives. Even a small admixture of tansy in hay gives the milk a bitter taste. In veterinary medicine, an infusion is used for ascariasis. The stem powder causes paralysis in 100% of flies within 15 minutes. The peoples of the North cover meat carcasses with tansy to protect them from decomposition. In France, England,
ELEMENTS OF AGROTECHNICAL CULTIVATION
This plant is undemanding to soils. Seedlings are not afraid of frost. Tansy can be sown in the spring with stratified seeds, winter crops also give a good result. In the first year of life, plants develop a rosette of basal leaves with a diameter of 45-50 cm, starting from the second year of life, they bloom profusely and bear fruit. Tansy can also be propagated by segments of rhizomes, in a square-nested way (50 × 50 cm). When sown in the ground in the first year, it grows relatively slowly, therefore it requires care, which consists in weeding. In subsequent years, plant care is reduced to cleaning from last year’s plant residues and top dressing with a mixture of mineral fertilizers.
TASTY TIPS
Tansy powder.
Grind dry flower baskets of tansy, sift and use for flavoring first and second game dishes. A mixture of tansy powder (1 cup) with red pepper (1 teaspoon) can be used to flavor meat dishes, add to sauces and gravies.
Pouring from tansy.
Boil dry flower baskets of tansy (10 g) in water (500 ml) for 10 minutes. Strain the broth, add granulated sugar (50 g) to it, cool and combine with vodka (1 l). Insist 2 hours
Kvass with tansy.
Dip dry flower baskets of tansy (5 g) in a gauze bag into kvass (1 l) for 12 hours, then remove the tansy, add granulated sugar (10 g), mix and leave for another 2 hours.