{{Short description|Species of herb}} {{Speciesbox |image=Balsamita major.jpg |status = {{TNCStatus}} |status_system = TNC |genus=Tanacetum |species=balsamita |authority=L. |synonyms= {{Species list | Balsamita balsamita | (L.) Rydb. nom. illeg. | Balsamita major | Desf. | Balsamita suaveolens | Pers. | Balsamita vulgaris | Willd. | Chamaemelum balsamita | (L.) E.H.L.Krause | Chrysanthemum balsamita | (L.) Baill. | Chrysanthemum grande | (L.) Hook.f. | Chrysanthemum grandiflorum | (Desf.) Dum.Cours. | Chrysanthemum majus | (Desf.) Asch. | Chrysanthemum tanacetifolium | (Desr.) Dum.Cours. | Chrysanthemum tanacetum | Vis. | Leucanthemum balsamita | (L.) Over | Matricaria balsamita | (L.) Desr. | Pyrethrum majus | (Desf.) Tzvelev }} |synonyms_ref=<ref>{{citation |url=http://www.theplantlist.org/tpl1.1/record/gcc-112746 |title=The Plant List: A Working List of All Plant Species |access-date=30 April 2016}}</ref> }}
'''''Tanacetum balsamita''''' is a perennial temperate herb known as '''costmary''',<ref>{{PLANTS|id=TABA|taxon=Tanacetum balsamita|accessdate=8 December 2015}}</ref> '''alecost''',<ref name=GRIN>{{citation |chapter-url=https://npgsweb.ars-grin.gov/gringlobal/taxonomydetail.aspx?id=317330 |chapter=''Tanacetum balsamita'' L. subsp. ''balsamita'' |title=USDA GRIN Taxonomy |access-date=30 April 2016}}</ref> '''balsam herb''', '''bible leaf''', or '''mint geranium'''.<ref name=GRIN/><ref name=ncsu/><ref name="botanical1">{{cite web|url=http://www.botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/c/costm107.html |title=Costmary |publisher=Botanical.com |date=|access-date=2017-04-26}}</ref> A fragrant plant native to southern Europe and western Asia, it has been used over centuries for culinary, aromatic, and traditional medicine purposes.<ref name=ncsu/>
==Description== Costmary is a perennial with oval serrated leaves and can grow up to {{convert|2|m|ft|abbr=on}} high. During summer, it shows small, yellow, button-shaped blossoms which appear in clusters.<ref name=CultPlants>{{cite book|last=Cumo|first=Christopher|title=Encyclopedia of Cultivated Plants A-F|year=2013|publisher=ABC-CLIO|location=Santa Barbara|isbn=978-1-59884-774-1|pages=329–332}}</ref>
==Name== 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 was thought to be a treatment for women's diseases in folk medicine.<ref name=CultPlants />
==Origin and spread== 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. Costmary was widely grown since the medieval times in herb gardens until the late 19th and early 20th centuries.<ref name=ncsu/> In the 21st century, it has mostly disappeared in Europe, but is still widely used in southwest Asia.<ref name=CultPlants /> It is referred to by Nicholas Culpeper as the 'balsam herb'.<ref name="botanical1"/>
==Phytochemicals== Leaves contain carvone as the main phytochemical (about 50% of total), together with minor amounts of β-thujone and other carvone-related chemicals.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.actahort.org/books/306/306_19.htm|title= ''Tanacetum balsamita'' L.: A Medicinal Plant from Guadalajara (Spain)|publisher=ISHS Acta Horticulturae, International Symposium on Medicinal and Aromatic Plants, XXIII IHC}}</ref>{{better source needed|date=August 2024}}
==Traditional medicine==
From medieval times through the 18th century, costmary was used in various supposed treatments of traditional medicine.<ref name="ncsu">{{Cite web |title=''Tanacetum balsamita'' |url=https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/tanacetum-balsamita/ |access-date=2022-06-06 |publisher= North Carolina Extension, Gardener Plant Toolbox, North Carolina State University|date=2024 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|display-authors=3 |last1=Jiao |first1=Majing |last2=Liu |first2=Xinqiao |last3=Ren |first3=Yongshen |last4=Wang |first4=Yingzhou |last5=Cheng |first5=Long |last6=Liang |first6=Yunhui |last7=Li |first7=Yanqiu |last8=Zhang |first8=Tianpei |last9=Wang |first9=Wen |last10=Mei |first10=Zhinan |date=2022-02-04 |title=Comparison of Herbal Medicines Used for Women's Menstruation Diseases in Different Areas of the World |journal=Frontiers in Pharmacology |volume=12 |article-number=751207 |doi=10.3389/fphar.2021.751207 |issn=1663-9812 |pmc=8854496 |pmid=35185533|doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=The Family Herbal |url=https://archive.org/details/mobot31753000976271/page/n1/mode/2up |author=Hill, John |year=1812 |page=[https://archive.org/details/mobot31753000976271/page/90/mode/2up 91] |publisher=Bungay: Printed and published by C. Brightley and T. Kinnersley }}</ref>
==Gallery== <gallery> File:Tanacetum balsamita cv.majus Kh.208 But.jpg|Flower clusters File:Tanacetum balsamita balsamita 0zz.jpg|Leaves </gallery>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==Further reading== * Culpepers British Herbal – Pub. William Nicholson and Son – C. 1905 (re-print of the 1653 original) * [https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/285804#page/693/mode/1up Costmary in ''The herball, or Generall historie of plantes'' (1633)] by John Gerard * {{Citation |last=Hassanpouraghdam |first=Mohammad-Bagher |title=Chrysanthemum Balsamita (L.) Baill.: A Forgotten Medicinal Plant |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/228414213 |journal=FACTA UNIVERSITATIS, Series: Medicine and Biology |volume=15 |page=119-124 |year=2008}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q1451844}} {{commons category|Tanacetum balsamita}} balsamita Category:Plants described in 1753 Category:Botanical taxa named by Carl Linnaeus