Tansy has been known since ancient times as a meat preservative and insect repellant. The leaves and flowers were rubbed on meats to help preserve them, and mattresses and pillows were stuffed with tansy to keep bugs away. Compared with most of the herbs featured in this book, it has only been relatively recently that tansy has been used as an emmenagogue.
Hildegard of Bingen (AD 1098 - 1117), a remarkable mystic and pioneer in science, sometimes mentioned as the first European woman doctor, was the first to mention tansy as having emmenagogual powers.[462] A strong wise-woman, Hildegard was chosen to represent her convent as the abbess. Hildegard’s achievements include: Scivias, twenty-six of her visions about the relationship between God, man, and creation; two books of medicine and natural history; hymns and canicles of which she wrote both words and music; a play; and a language of her own composed of 900 words and an alphabet of 23 letters. Hildegard regularly traveled throughout Germany and parts of Gaul speaking to people of all classes and walks of life. Hildegard was endeared to the people, many of whom still refer to her as Saint Hildegard. To this day, tansy is used throughout Europe to induce menstruation.
The abortifacient use of tansy is also documented in North America. The decoction of tansy leaf was taken by young Native American Chippewa girls for “stoppage of period.”[463] The infusion of tansy was taken to prevent pregnancy by the Malecite tribe.[464]
Gathering: Leaves and flowers of tansy are gathered when in full bloom. The root of tansy may be gathered when the above-ground portions of the plant begin to die back in late fall. Tansy seeds are gathered when mature. Gathered material is immediately processed into tinctures or dried in the shade and stored in airtight containers.
Preparation: Tansy’s emmenagogual and abortifacient properties are mainly derived from the infusion or tincture. Tansy is taken as a simple or sometimes combined with blue cohosh and pennyroyal infusion.
Words to the Wise: Do not confuse Tansy Tanacetum vulgare with Tansy Ragwort Senecio jacobea, found in the Northeastern United States and known to produce irreversible liver damage when taken internally. Compared to other abortifacient herbs, tansy has been used for abortifacient and emmenagogual purposes only in the recent past. Tansy is a very strong herb and can cause side effects even at therapeutic doses. Use caution. Tansy has been known to cause temporary lumps in the breasts of women who use it to promote menstruation, and tansy can cause hemorrhage in women who normally menstruate heavily.[465] Tansy contains the uterine contracting and possibly toxic thujone. The amount of thujone in tansy varies widely from plant to plant, some plants contain no thujone; other plants may have up to 95% thujone in their oil.[466] Because of tansy’s chemical variability, use extreme caution. Stay out of the sun when taking tansy. Tansy is phototoxic; it can produce a skin rash or blistering in individuals who have taken it and then expose themselves to sunlight. Tansy’s essential oil is very concentrated. As little as 4 ml (less than 1 tsp!) of the oil has caused death.
Watch for Signs of Toxicity Specific to Tansy: Nausea, vomiting, inflammation of the stomach lining, dilated pupils, weakened and/or rapid pulse, convulsions, and coma.
Abortifacient Infusion (dried flowering tops): One handful (4-8 teaspoons) of the dried aerial parts of tansy to 1 quart (1 L). Simmer 15 minutes. Sip throughout the day. Take no longer than five days.
Tansy Emmenagogue: Drink one cup (250 ml) the night before expected menstruation, and then one cup (250 ml) in the morning if menstruation has not already started.
Tincture (flowering tops): 1:5, 95% alcohol, 20 – 30 drops, three to four times a day for no longer than five days.
*Extreme Caution! Tansy’s inherent chemical variability is extremely dangerous.
Wild Ginger
In the night of December 9th I was called to see Mary W., aged seventeen years, unmarried…I suspected she might be pregnant, and questioned her concerning her catamenia in the presence of her mother. She assured me that she had her ‘menses regular,’ that she was slightly unwell then, and her mother did not contradict her story…Early next morning, her father called on me, stated that she had given birth to a child, and desired me to see her at once. I found that she had given birth to a three month’s embryo, without calling any of the family…she [admitted she] had been using a strong tea, and chewing a root…she said the girls use it, and that one of her female companions had used it for the same purpose, and with the same results. For the past few days [she] had taken a strong tea of the root. Her mother, on searching her pockets, found some of the root, which she gave …the root as Asarum canadense…having my doubts about the matter, I asked where she got the so-called root. I called at the drug-store designated, and asked the proprietor to show me some…He assured me that…large quantities of the Asarum canadense are sold to women, especially to girls.
-Dr. P. R. Palm in Transactions of the Medical Society of Pennsylvania, 1874
AKA: Canada black snake root, catfoot, broad-leafed sarabacca, Indian ginger, colicroot, and coltsfoot.
Part Used: Root.
Medicinal Properties: Abortifacient, aromatic, carminative, diaphoretic, diuretic, emmenagogue and purgative, and stimulant.
Effects on the Body: Soothes stomach, stimulates circulatory system, relieves joint and muscle pain, cleans out intestines, and promotes menstruation.
Abortifacient Action: Estrogenic and may reduce luteinizing hormone.
Contains: Aristolochic acid (abortifacient) and beta-sitosterol (a phytoestrogen).
Description: Wild ginger, Asarum canadense, is a native North American perennial herb with heart-shaped, velvety, 5 – 6 in. (12.5 – 15 cm) wide leaves arising on whitish hairy stalks from a tan to brown rhizome. In spring, tiny dark reddish-brown triangular bell-shaped flowers appear hidden under the leaves at the fork between the two leafstalks. The stems and rhizome have a spicy ginger-like odor. Wild ginger is found in rich woodlands growing in cool shaded areas often by streams from Quebec to Ontario, south to Florida, and west to Minnesota, also found west of the Rockies, northern California to Canada. Wild ginger is often used in shaded landscapes as a slowly spreading ground cover.
Wild ginger was used by the Native Americans for heart palpitations, as a condiment, and to induce menstruation. It was used specifically by Cherokee women to start their periods. The practitioners of the American Physic Medical School maintained that wild ginger root has a direct influence on the uterus.[467] Herbalists have used wild ginger for centuries to induce perspiration, menstruation, and to aid in elimination of waste matter and gas. Powdered wild ginger root, inhaled like snuff, has been used relieve aching head and eyes.
462
John M. Riddle,
463
Frances Densmore, “Uses of Plants by the Chippewa Indians.” SI-BAE Annual Report 44 (1928), 358.
464
W.H. Mechling, “The Malecite Indians with Notes on the Micmacs.”
465
Susan S. Weed,
466
Nancy J. Turner and Adam F. Szczawinski,
467
Alma R. Hutchens,