Details of Medicinal Plants

Pyrethrum

Tanacetum cinerariifolium (Trevir.) Sch. Bip. Asteraceae

This perennial plant grows in the Balkan Peninsula. Its plant height in Japan is 30 to 80 cm and flowering period is May to June. This species is the raw material for the best known natural insecticides. Though an anesthetic and poisonous to many kinds of insects, this plant is virtually harmless to mammals.

Part used: capitulum
Medicinal use: insecticide
Main component: pyrethrin

The dried capitulum is used in insecticides.

The pyrethrin content of P. coccineum Willd. is less than that of P. cinerariaefolium Vis.

Mosquito coils contains this chemical compound mainly.