Tanacetum parthenium Seeds | Feverfew
LATIN NAME: Tanacetum parthenium
COMMON NAME: Feverfew
Plant Profile
Feverfew is a short-lived perennial that forms a bushy clump of bright green, pinnately lobed, strongly aromatic leaves, then tops them with small white daisy flowers whose yellow discs sit in shallow, button-like heads. It self-sows cheerfully and will seed itself into path edges if you let a few flowers go to seed.
Beginners confuse feverfew with German chamomile because both are small white daisies, but feverfew’s leaves are ferny and pungent while chamomile’s are feathery and apple-sweet. The flower heads also differ: feverfew’s are flat and button-like, whereas chamomile’s carry a raised yellow cone, a detail that settles the identification at a glance.
Feverfew’s garden history is longer and better documented than its chemistry, and that history is part of its value to a grower.
The plant was a fixture of Tudor and Elizabethan gardens, listed among the strewing and border herbs, and it travelled with settlers to the New World where it naturalised along roadsides. Its persistence is a tribute to how easily it self-sows once established in a sunny, well-drained spot. Feverfew remains a favourite of beekeepers because the small flat flowers are easy for short-tongued bees to work, and a flowering clump will hum on a warm afternoon. It also dries well for winter arrangements, holding both its white petals and its button shape if cut just as the disc opens and hung in a dark, airy place.
Science & Biotechnology
The molecule that put feverfew on the modern research bench is a sesquiterpene lactone, and the oil carries a recognisable set of volatiles.
Parthenolide is the compound most studied in feverfew, stored in the glandular hairs on the leaf surface, and it is the marker growers are bred toward or away from depending on the use. Its presence is what separates a genuine feverfew from a look-alike that merely shares the white flower, and it is the reason the plant is assayed rather than merely sniffed.
We will not repeat the old fever claims here; the responsible line is that feverfew is a beautiful, bee-friendly, strongly scented border plant with a documented chemistry, and that the chemistry is the interesting part. Treat any health story as a matter for qualified advice, not the seed packet, and enjoy the plant for what it reliably is.
Uses & Benefits
The leaf is the working part of the plant, finely divided and pungent, and the foliage of the golden-leaved cultivar ‘Aureum’ is as much an ornamental feature as the flower. The plant’s compact habit makes it a good front-of-border filler, and because the foliage is so divided it reads as fine texture against broad-leaved neighbours such as hardy geraniums. In a hot summer the lower leaves may yellow and the clump can look tired by late season, which is the cue to cut it back hard and let a fresh flush of foliage appear for autumn.
The steam-distilled oil reads on camphor, trans-sabinyl acetate, and beta-farnesene, a mix that explains the cooling, medicinal edge of the crushed leaf. Growers who want reliable leaf should choose a named clone rather than seed, because the seed-grown plant varies so much in oil that two seedlings from one packet can smell like different herbs. The golden Aureum form is the most decorative and is the one most often sold in garden centres, though it is somewhat less vigorous than the green wild type.
Growing from Seed
The seed is fine and the plant is short-lived, so a steady supply depends on sowing a little every season.
Sow the fine seed on the surface of a cool, moist tray and press it in without covering, because light helps it break dormancy. Move the seedlings on by height once they have a couple of true leaves, and set them out in full sun with average soil; they flower in their first season from an early sowing.
Because the crown is short-lived, lift and divide the clump or let it self-sow to keep a continuous patch, and cut the spent flower heads if you want to limit volunteers. The plant pairs naturally with pyrethrum and other daisy-family border herbs for a long white-and-yellow show that carries from midsummer into autumn.
Our Take
I treat feverfew as a two-year citizen of the border: sow fresh each spring, enjoy the daisies and the bees, and let one corner naturalise so I never run out.
Related Reading
If Feverfew appeals to you, these related plants are worth a look: