Yellow and Orange 



Simolincr "published in 1656, assures maidens that tansy leaves laid 



'o'Sak m b'utrmilk for t^inedays '^ -^kfJl^.XTh'rtTtVr/- 

 f'.ir " Tansv tea, in short, cured every ill that flesh is hen to, ac 

 CO ding to thVsimple faith of mediaeval herbahsts-a faith surviv- 

 fni in some old women even to this day. The name is said to 

 be"a co?r^ption of athauasia, derived from two Greek words 

 meaninJ ^mortality. When some monks in reading Lucian 

 c me afrosTTe pasLge where Jove, speaking of Ganymede^o 

 Merrarv savs "Take hm hence, and when he has tasted im 

 mortal^; let^him return to us,'' their literal minds inferred that this 

 Sant mus^^^ been what Ganymede tasted, hence they named 1 



SanSia ' So great credence having been given to its medicinal 

 nowe^Hn Europe it is not strange the colonists felt they could 

 not live in theTw World without tansy. Strong-scented pun- 

 gent tufts topped with bright yellow buttons-runaways from 

 &d ga"Ls-are a conspicuous^eatu^ along many a roadside 

 leading to colonial homesteads. 



Golden Ragwort; Groundsel; Squaw-weed 



{Senecio aureus) Thistle family 



Flower.heads-GoXd^n yellow, about H in. across, borne on slender 

 neduncles in a loose, leafless cluster ; rays 8 to 12 around 

 Se disk florets. Stem: Slender, 1 to 2/3 ft^^igh solitary 

 or tufted, from a strong-scented root. Leaves: Fom the root, 

 on long petioles, rounded or heart-shaped, scalloped-edged, 

 often p^ur^plish ; stem leaves variable, lance-shaped or lyrate, 



deeply cut, sessile. 

 Preferred Habitat-'^SN2.m^^, wet ground, meadows. 



S^^-Gui'ltltTi^n'orthward to Missouri, Ontario, and 



Newfoundland. 



While the aster dan is the largest we have in North America 

 this genus Senecio is really the most numerous branch of the great 

 comfosite tribe, numbering as it does nearly a thousand species ^e- 

 nresented in all quarters of the earth. It is said to take its name 

 from 5^nJ = an old man, in reference to the white hairs on many 

 spec es o^ more likely, to the silky pappus that soon makes the 

 fertUe disks hoary headed. "1 see the downy heads of the 

 senecio gone to seed, thistle like but small," wrote Thoreau in h s 

 ioS under date of July 2d, when only the pussy-toes everlast- 

 ng could have plumed its seeds for flight over the dry uplands in 

 a Imihir fashion. Innumerable as the yellow, daisy-like com- 

 Dosi^es are most of them appear in late summer or autumn, and 

 ?o the novic^should have little difficulty in naming these loosely 

 clustered, bright, early blooming, small heads. 



