160 FLAVORING AND BEVERAGE PLANTS 
of safety varies widely with different individuals, and in the 
same individual under different conditions of health and sick- 
ness, and at different ages. Stimulants, therefore, may be 
helpful or harmful according to the amount used and the 
bodily condition of the individual. Overstimulation is al- 
ways followed by harmful reaction resulting in more or less 
exhaustion or derangement of the system which may lead 
to grave consequences, especially in the case of young people. 
Fic. 155.—Wormwood (Artemisia Absinthium, Sunflower Family, Com. 
posite). Plantin flower. Leaf and flower-clusters. Outer floret, %, 
Inner floret, {. (Baillon.)—A perennial herb, about 1 m. tall; leaves 
white-silky; flowers greenish; fruit grayish. Native home, Europe. 
All food which has an agreeable flavor is more or less 
stimulating. In vegetable foods as we know the flavor nat- 
urally belonging to the plant or developed by heat is often — 
strongly marked and characteristic, as, for example, in turnip, 
parsnip, celery, cucumber, muskmelon, pineapple, peanut, 
and pop-corn; and this flavor is due commonly to the presence 
of a volatile oil, the amount of which, however, is so small that 
