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Tansy: useful and medicinal properties of common tansy. Video
Tansy, wild ashberry, herbalist are the names of the same plant that can be found in mixed forests throughout central Russia. It does not have lush flowers, but like many herbs used in traditional medicine, it can relieve suffering, boost immunity, heal the liver and stomach, and even become a seasoning for homemade wines and liqueurs.
Description of common tansy
Common tansy belongs to the genus of tansy of the Aster family – it is a perennial herb, common in many European countries, in Near and Central Asia, Siberia, the Far East, China, Japan and the USA. The stem of the tansy is erect, the leaves are pinnately dissected, they contain essential oil, therefore, when rubbed, a strong characteristic aroma is released. Tansy blooms in late summer – early autumn, flowers are small, yellow, petals are underdeveloped. The inflorescences are collected in baskets resembling rowan clusters, hence one of the names of tansy – wild mountain ash.
During flowering, tansy inflorescences contain many useful substances: vegetable proteins, carbohydrates, bitterness, tannins, glycosides. They contain a lot of alkaloids – from 0,04 to 0,5%, organic acids: tanacetic, gallic. In addition, the chemical composition of the inflorescences includes oxyflavone glycoside, vitamin C, rutin, vitamin A – carotene, as well as some other vitamins and trace elements.
The flowers and leaves of tansy contain a high content of essential oils – from 1,1 to 0,2%, flavones: acacetin, genquanin, chrysoriol, diosmethin, luteolin, as well as flavonols: quacetin and isoramnetin. They also contain oxycinnamic acids and oxycoumarins. Especially there is a lot of essential oil in tansy seeds. It contains bicyclic terpene ketones, pinene, camphor, borneol and, in addition, unsaturated bicyclic sesquiterpene dioxylactontanacetin.
The medicinal properties of tansy, due to the chemical composition of its flowers, seeds and leaves, were known and used by the healers of Ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome. It is also used in the food and chemical industries, and animals are treated with drugs based on it. Due to the high content of essential oils, tansy is cultivated as an essential oil plant, including in Russia, Kazakhstan, USA, England, France and Hungary.
Young tansy leaves are added to strong alcoholic liqueurs and liqueurs, as well as to green salads and pastries. As a seasoning, they are used in the preparation of canned meat, fish and vegetables. In the countries of the East, in the Caucasus and the Mediterranean, dry crushed tansy inflorescences are added to various aromatic mixtures and use such a powder along with other spices and seasonings: ginger, nutmeg, vanilla, hops, cinnamon, etc. Its aroma repels flies, mosquitoes, cockroaches, fleas and bedbugs, therefore dry stems with inflorescences and leaves are used as an insecticidal agent. A natural green dye is obtained from the extract of tansy roots.
Medicinal properties of common tansy
This seemingly unprepossessing plant appears in pharmacopoeias – collections of medicinal standards and regulations in many European countries. Its medicinal properties are very wide: tansy heals wounds, has aseptic, anti-inflammatory and bactericidal effects, it is used as an antispasmodic, astringent, bile and diuretic, and is used to treat worms. Medicines based on it normalize the work of the digestive system, increase blood pressure, and are used as sedatives for a variety of disorders of the nervous system.
Decoctions and infusions of tansy are contraindicated for pregnant women, young children and those who have an individual intolerance to this plant
The extract from the leaves of the common tansy is part of the tablets that increase appetite and speed up the digestive processes. It is contained in drugs that are prescribed for diseases of the liver, kidneys, bladder, and in those that treat bronchial asthma, rheumatism, gastritis, ulcers and spasms of the stomach and duodenum, intestinal inflammation, flatulence, constipation and even tuberculosis.
In folk medicine, tansy has long been used to normalize heavy menstruation and the menstrual cycle itself. Her broths were used to treat hepatitis and cholecystitis, to relieve epileptic seizures. As an astringent, these decoctions were used to treat enterocolitis and gastritis, and as diuretics they were used to treat pyelonephritis and urolithiasis. Lotions were also used, which were made from decoctions of flowers and leaves. They treated rheumatism, gout, eczema, cuts and wounds. An infusion of tansy, to which coarse salt was added, rubbed people with chills or overwork.
Taking drugs based on tansy is carried out strictly under the supervision of the attending physician, uncontrolled intake is fraught with poisoning of the body
The use of tansy for abortion
When nothing was known about contraception, the infusion of tansy flowers was used to terminate pregnancy. At the same time, women exposed themselves and their health to serious risk, since tansy is toxic and in the quantities required for this purpose can cause not only poisoning. The consequence of the use of a concentrated infusion of tansy can be muscle cramps, a sharp increase in blood pressure and temperature, accompanied by vomiting – typical symptoms of poisoning. Intoxication of the body can provoke acute liver failure, and a sacrificed fetus can cause uterine bleeding, which can result in the removal of the uterus.