I certainly hadn't before I started helping out at a plant nursery in my hometown. I would spend a couple days a week weeding, watering, and (wo)manning the market stall in exchange for a bit of cash and whatever herbs I wanted from the garden.
Attracted by the cute little flowers I gravitated toward a small potter plant of feverfew. And once the owner of the nursery told me that the plant was a great remedy for migraines I was eager to experiment.
I brought the plant home to my mom's front yard herb patch and on the following trip harvested a few bouquets of the flowers as well oregano which grows insanely well there.
As far as I have read, it is only the flower that is medicinal. So, I used a pair of clean kitchen scissors to cut off the flower tops of the plant and left it to dry inside, on the apothecary counter.
As I illuded to in the title of this post, feverfew isn't a common herb in most modern apothecaries the same way turmeric and lemonbalm are. Just like clothing and music, herbs go in and out of fashion. Don't feel sad for feverfew though, it has certainly enjoyed a long history of use in herbal medicine.
According to "Herbs" by Jessica Houdret, feverfew was used way back in the 1st century (common era) by Greek herbalists to fight all kind of ailments from fevers (of course!), to opium overdoses, toothaches, and insect bites. The Greeks infused the flowers in wine and added in a bit of honey to mask the bitter flavor. That is something I feel needs mentioning; fever few is bitter! This may very well be why the herb eventually fell out of fashion.
Still, feverfew continued to enjoy a place on the apothecary's shelf. The 16th century herbalist John Gerard wrote of feverfew's ability to combat the discomfort of migraines and headaches.
And as the summer heat gets turned up to 100 degrees and more, I am really suffering in that department. A few times this month alone I was bed ridden due to the intolerable pain and so I began drinking a couple of cups of feverfew tea, and also using a diluted tea in my neti pot. I believe that I am just a human prone to migraines but that heat, bright lights, pollen, and dust in the air add to it. And, I am glad to say that I felt much, much better after my DIY herbal treatments.
Most of my supply of feverfew flowers comes from the herb I planted & harvested in my mom's front yard. But, this spring, I was happy to see a little feverfew peaking up between the potted plants in my front yard. A happy accident that will, hopefully, lead to an abundance of this cute little herb.
