YELLOW 



lower plant, with a close down, a less-branched stem, more en- 

 tire leaves, and smaller, similar flowers. 



TANSY. 



Tanacetum vulgare. Composite Family (p. 13). 



Stem. Two to four feet high. Leaves. Divided into toothed leaflets. 

 Flower-heads. Yellow, composed of tiny flowers which are nearly, if not 

 all, tubular in shape ; borne in flat-topped clusters. 



With the name of tansy we seem to catch a whiff of its 

 strong-scented breath and a glimpse of some New England 

 homestead beyond whose borders it has strayed to deck the 

 roadside with its deep yellow, flat-topped flower-clusters. The 

 plant has been used in medicine since the Middle Ages, and in 

 more recent times it has been gathered by the country people 

 for " tansy wine" and "tansy tea." In the Roman Church 

 it typifies the bitter herbs which were to be eaten at the Paschal 

 season ; and cakes made of eggs and its leaves are called " tan- 

 sies," and eaten during Lent. It is also frequently utilized in 

 more secular concoctions. 



The common name is supposed to be a corruption of the 

 Greek word for immortality. 



WITCH-HAZEL. 



Hamamelis Virginiana. Witch-hazel Family. 



A tall shrub. Leaves. Oval, wavy-toothed, mostly falling before the 

 flowers appear. Flowers. Honey-yellow, clustered, autumnal. Calyx. 

 Four-parted. Corolla. Of four long narrow petals. Stamens. Eight. 

 Pistils. Two. Fruit. A capsule which bursts elastically, discharging its 

 large seeds with vigor. 



It seems as though the flowers of the witch-hazel were fairly 

 entitled to the "booby-prize," of the vegetable world. Surely 

 no other blossoms make their first appearance so invariably late 

 upon the scene of action. The fringed gentian often begins to 

 open its "meek and quiet eye" quite early in September. 

 Certain species of golden-rod and aster continue to flower till 

 late in the year, but they began putting forth their bright clus- 

 ters before the summer was fairly over ; while the elusively fra- 



170 



