TAXSY. 235 



perennial, long, creeping and fibrous ; the stem is strong and tough, 

 often reddish, branched to\yards the top, smooth and bearing many 

 leaves ; the leaves are doubly pinnated and deeply serrated. 

 There is a variety with curled leaves {T. vulgar e var.foliis crisjns), 

 which are considered to be even more aromatic than the ordinary 

 sort. The flowers are bright pale yellow and form in terminal 

 corymbs with button-like heads. All parts of the plant are 

 strongly aromatic and on being distilled with water rapidly yield 

 their powerful essential oil. This oil merits a great deal more 

 attention than is now given to it, and might well enter into the 

 composition of toilet vinegars and perfumed salts. The yield is 

 estimated at 015 to 0-25 per cent. An excellent test for the 

 purity of this oil is its solubility in 70 per cent, alcohol ; thus, an 

 oil of undoubted purity, having a sp. gr. of 0-926 at 15^ C, forms 

 a perfectly clear solution with three times its volume of 70 per 

 cent, alcohol. Schimmel & Co. have previously observed the S]3. 

 gr. of French oil to be 0-927, and that of German oil 0-930. 



It is grown commercially for distillation in Wayne County. 



A species now much in demand is Tanacetum balsam ita,lA\\.\ 

 having a more mint-like odour; this is generally cultivated in 

 gardens in France. 



Oil of Tansy was first investigated to any extent by Bruylants.* 

 According to this authority it contains an aldehyde C\oH-^gO, 

 which, with bisulphite of sodium forms a crystalline compound, 

 and to which he gave the name Tanacetylkydrine. Semmlerf has 

 investigated this body thoroughly and obtained exceedingly 

 interesting results. He names it Tanacetone (a methyl-Ketone), 

 and reports that under a 13 m. m. pressure it boils at 8-4^-5 C, 

 and that it possesses an optical rotation of + 38° 30' in a 200 

 m. m. column. Xascent hydrogen (generated from sodium) reduces 

 it to Tanacetyl-alcoliol C^qR^qO, boiling point 92^-5 C. at 13 m. m. 

 pressure. This latter, like the tanacetone, is a saturated com- 

 pound. Bromine acts upon it by substitution and not by addition. 

 With hydroxylamine, tanacetone forms an oxime, CjoH-^g XOH, 

 which boils at 125^-136° C. With acetic anhydride it does not 

 form a nitrite, but an acetyl derivative. By the action of dilute 



* Journ. (le Pliaim. and de Cliim., Nov., 18S7, p. 393. 



+ Ber. Deutsch. Chem. Ges., xxv., pp. 3343, 3352 and 3513. 



