164 COMPOSIT.E 



A very good green colouring matter may be extracted from the roots of 

 the common Tansy, which the Finlanders use to dye their clothes. Dr. Wither- 

 ing says, that if meat be rubbed with the Tansy, the flesh-fly will not touch 

 it, but when the meat is afterwards eaten, it will probably require the aid of 

 some strong condiment to remove the flavour left by the plant. Tansy wine 

 is a favourite village medicine for children, and is a good stomachic bitter. 

 In Scotland it is much used as a cure for the gout. The French call the 

 plant Tanasie ; the Germans, Reinfahren ; the Dutch, Eeinevaren ; the Italians, 

 Tanaceti ; the Portuguese, Tanasia. Most of these names are corruptions of 

 the word Athanasia, which signifies that which cannot perish, but of Avhich 

 the application is not obvious. 



One of the prettiest plants in the garden in the month of April is a variety 

 of this herb, called Curled Tansy. Its beauty at that early season is a great 

 addition to the garden border, as its green is of the most lively hue, and no 

 leaf which grows can better deserve the epithet of feathery. In olden 

 times, no garden would have been complete without its clump of Tansy : — 



" And where the marjoram once, and sage, and rue, 

 And balm, and mint, with curl'd leaf parsley grew, 

 And double marigolds, and silver thyme, 

 And pumpkins 'neath the window climb ; 

 And where I often, when a child, for hours 

 Tried through the pales to get the tempting flowers, 

 As lady's laces, everlasting peas, 

 True love-lies-bleeding, with the hearts-at-ease, 

 And golden rods, and Tansy running high, 

 That o'er the pale-tops smiled on passers-by." 



28. Wormwood, Southernwood, Mugwort {Artemisia). 



1. Field Southernwood {A. campMris). — Leaves smooth above, silky 

 beneath, once or twice pinnate, with narrow pointed segments ; stems 

 prostrate before flowering ; scales of the involucre with a thin white edge ; 

 perennial. This is a very rare plant, growing on sandy heaths in Norfolk 

 and Suffolk, bearing yellow flowers in August and September. The involucre 

 is of purplish-brown colour, and the slender flowering stem is one or two feet 

 long. 



2. Common Mugwort (A. vulgaris). — Leaves pinnatifid, with acute 

 segments, white, with down beneath ; heads oblong, somewhat racemed ; 

 scales of the involucre woolly ; perennial. This plant, which is common on 

 waste places by the road-side, or on pebbly beaches, is easily known from 

 the other species by its dark green leaves, having, beneath, a thick coating 

 of cottony down, in Avhich also the young shoots are quite enveloped. It is, 

 too, destitute of that aromatic odour which distinguishes most plants of this 

 genus. It was in former days placed in baths, and thought to have great 

 effect in relieving the sense of fatigue ; and the pilgrim was accustomed to 

 lay its leaves in his shoes, in full faith in its efficacy to strengthen him. 

 Pliny said, "The traveller or wayfaring man that hath the herb tied about 

 him, feeleth no weariness at all; and he can never be hurt by poisonous 

 medicine, by any wild beast, neither by the sun itself." It is no wonder a 



