Pyrethrum

Pellitory, or Spanish chamomile (Anacyclus pyrethrum), is a widely-distributed plant known in different countries under different names. According to Pliny (514) it was the herb used by the Magians under the name parthenium against intermittent fevers, and according to Dioscorides (194) it is the plant that, under the name anthemis, was used in the same manner. It is mentioned in the "Arabian Nights" (88) under the name ukhowan. It is found throughout European Turkey, and according to Forskal southward to the mountains of Yemen, where it is called moeniat. According to De Candolle (122) its introduction into Britain was perhaps before the coming of the Romans. The European colonists carried it, according to Josselyn (345) to Northeast America before 1669, where it is to be found both under cultivation and, having escaped therefrom, as a wild plant. Once a popular remedy in agues, its use is now practically discontinued, even in domestic medicine. Physicians as a rule neglect it, but it is employed by them in a few exceptional instances.

The History of the Vegetable Drugs of the U.S.P., 1911, was written by John Uri Lloyd.