40 



AMERICAN MEDICINAL LEAVES AND HEEBS. 



Collection, prices, and uses. — The entire plant is collected at the time that it is iu 

 flower and is carefully dried. The coarser stems are rejected. Considerable shrinkage 

 takes place in drying, the plant losing about four-filths of its weight. The prices paid 

 for yarrow are from about 3 to 5 cents a pound. Yarrow was official in the United 

 States Pharmacopoeia from 1860 to 1880. It has a strong, aromatic odor, very much 



like chamomile, and a 

 sharj:), bitter taste. It has 

 been used as a stimulant 

 tonic, for its action upon 

 the bladder, and for check- 

 ing excessive discharges. 



TANSY. 



Tanaceluni vidgare L. 



Ollur common names. — 

 Tanacetum, bitter but- 

 tons, ginger plant, parsley 

 fern, scented fern, English 

 cost, hindheal. 



Habitat and range. — This 

 is .another garden plant 

 introduced into this 

 country from Europe and 

 now escaped from cultiva- 

 tion, occurring as a weed 

 along waysides and fences 

 from Xew England to ilin- 

 nesota and soiithward to 

 North Carolina and Mis- 

 souri. 



Description.— Tansy is 

 strong-scented perennial 

 herb with finely divided, 

 fernlike leaves and yel- 

 low buttonliko flowers, and belongs to the aster family (Asteracete). It has a stout, 

 somewhat reddish, erect stem, usually smooth, 1^ to 3 feet high, and branching near 

 the top. 



The entire leaf is about 6 inches long, its general outline oval, but it is divided 

 nearly to the midrib into about seven pairs of segments, or lobes, which like the ter- 

 minal one are again (li\ ided for about two-thirds of the distance to the midvein into 

 smaller lobes having saw-toothed margins, giving to the leaf a somewhat feathery or 

 fernlike ai)pearance. The yellow flowers, borne in terminal clusters, are roundish 

 and flat topjxnl, surrounded by a set of dry, overlai)ping scales (the involucre). (Fig. 

 32.) Tansy is in flower from about .Fidy to September. 



Collection, prices, and us(S. — The leaves and flowering tops of tansy are collected at 

 the time of flowering and are carefully dried. They lose about four-fifths of their 

 weight in drying. Their price ranges from about 3 to 5 cents a pound. 



Tansy has a strong, aromatic odor and a bitter taste. It is poisonous and has 

 been known to produce fatal results. It has stimulant, tonic, and enunenagogue 

 properties and is also used as a remedy against worms. 



219 



Fig. 3?.— Tansy (Tanacetum vvlgarc), leaves and flowers. 



