Daisies 295unique in finding a use for stomach and/or liver complaints.^167
It is especially in applying this plant to skin troubles,
though, that Ireland differs most from Britain. Broadly
classifiable under that head are records for ringworm
from Leitrim,^168 whitlows^169 and chilblains^170 from
Meath, ‘blasts’ (facial swellings) from Carlow^171 and
erysipelas from Donegal.^172
Tanacetum vulgare Linnaeus
tansy
Europe, Siberia; introduced into North
America, Australasia
Though convincingly a native of beaches and
riversides in other parts of north-western
Europe,Tanacetum vulgare may owe its pres-
ence in the British Isles wholly to human influ-
ence and perhaps in large part to former culti-
vation for herbal purposes. Significantly, its
Gaelic name, recorded as early as 1698 from
Skye, translates as ‘French herb’. With proper-
ties similar to wormwood, its primary use
through the centuries and over
much of Europe has been as a repel-
lent: either drunk as an infusion to
purge the system of intestinal
worms (for which its effectiveness is
well attested) or strewn about in the
fresh state to keep away any nox-
ious insects and even mice. Records
of the former practice in Britain have
been traced from Lincolnshire,^173 Skye^174 and Orkney,^175
and of the latter from South Wales,^176 the East Riding of
Yor kshire,^177 Berwickshire^178 and the Highlands^179 —
in other words, curiously, their known distributions
do not overlap. In the days when it was believed that
infections were transmitted by inhaling them,
some of Orkney’s inhabitants so trusted in the
plant’s effectiveness that they made a habit of
Tanacetum vulgare, tansy
(Brunfels 1530, p. 250)