Costmary, Or Alcost, Or Balsam Herb

Tanacetum balsamita

HRB-0086Entry “COSTMARY, OR ALCOST, OR BALSAM HERB” in the 1850 textIn Culpeper’s 1652 first edition

Open in the Concordance

Old claims, quoted verbatim: not medical advice. A warning sits above the claims and never hides them; no warning does not mean safe, only that no source here has flagged the plant.

Substance of concernEFSA: 1,8-cineole, Carvone, alpha-thujone and 1 moreEFSA’s list of substances, not a danger rating. Checked 26 October 2026.

Culpeper’s claims about it: 7, under 7 headings

  1. AguesCLM-000020
    it dissolves without attraction, opens obstructions, and helps their evil effects, and it is a wonderful help to all sorts of dry agues.
    QUO-000020Papers and the EMA’s verdict, in the Concordance
  2. Agues — DryCLM-000059
    it dissolves without attraction, opens obstructions, and helps their evil effects, and it is a wonderful help to all sorts of dry agues.
    QUO-000020Papers and the EMA’s verdict, in the Concordance
  3. LiverCLM-001176
    It is astringent to the stomach, and strengthens the liver, and all the other inward parts;
    QUO-000838Papers and the EMA’s verdict, in the Concordance
  4. Liver — (to strengthen)CLM-0023591850 index, p. 55
    It is astringent to the stomach, and strengthens the liver, and all the other inward parts;
    QUO-000838Papers and the EMA’s verdict, in the Concordance
  5. StomachCLM-001585
    It is astringent to the stomach, and strengthens the liver, and all the other inward parts;
    QUO-000838Papers and the EMA’s verdict, in the Concordance
  6. UlcersCLM-001929
    it makes an excellent salve to cleanse and heal old ulcers, being boiled with oil of olive, and Adder’s tongue with it, and after it is strained, put a little wax, rosin, and turpentine, to bring it to a convenient body.
    QUO-001216Papers and the EMA’s verdict, in the Concordance
  7. WormsCLM-002095
    The seed is familiarly given to children for the worms, and so is the infusion of the flowers in white wine given them to the quantity of two ounces at a time;
    QUO-001311Papers and the EMA’s verdict, in the Concordance

Source

Nicholas Culpeper, The Complete Herbal, a new edition (London: Thomas Kelly, 1850). Project Gutenberg eBook #49513. SRC-CUL-1850

Quotations are verbatim from the 1850 text, line breaks joined. Modern research and the European regulator’s verdict on each claim are on the Concordance page, kept apart from this historical record.