Tanacetum balsamita

Tanacetum balsamita is a perennial temperate herb known as costmary, alecost, balsam herb, bible leaf, or mint geranium. The costmary is a perennial with oval serrated leaves and can grow up to 2 m (6.6 ft) high. During summer, it shows small, yellow, button-shaped blossoms which appear in clusters. The English name 'costmary' stems from 'costus of Saint Mary'. Also, in other languages, it is associated with the Virgin Mary, most probably because it is sometimes used to treat women's diseases. The plant seems to have originated in the Mediterranean. Whether the plant called 'balsamita' described by Columella in 70 AD is the same is unclear. According to Heinrich Marzell, it was first mentioned in 812 in a plant catalogue. Costmary was widely grown since the medieval times in herb gardens until the late 19th and early 20th centuries for medical purposes. Nowadays, it has mostly disappeared in Europe, but is still widely used in southwest Asia. It was used in medieval times as a place marker in Bibles. It is referred to by Nicholas Culpeper as the 'balsam herb'. Leaves of the plant have been found to contain a range of essential oils. A Spanish study found the oil includes carvone as the main component (51.5, 41.0, and 56.9% in three samples), together with minor amounts of beta-thujone, t-dihydrocarvone, c-dihydrocarvone, dihydrocarveol isomer, c-carveol, and t-carveol. Levels of beta-thujone, a toxic ketone, were 9.8, 12.5, and 12.1% in the respective samples. In medieval times, costmary was used for menstruation problems. In the 18th century, it was classified as laxative, against stomach problems, and as an astringent. It was recommended against melancholy and hysteria, as well as dysentery and against gallbladder disease. The plant is known from ancient herbals and was widely grown in Elizabethan knot gardens. The 17th century herbalist Nicholas Culpeper says of costmary: