TANSY 



borne in Aat-topped clusters. Imperfect ray-florets rarely 

 appear. AH florets fertile. Involucre of dry, imbricated 

 bracts. Pappus a short crown, or wanting. 



Tansy once had an as- 

 tonishing reputation for 

 its medicinal virtues, due, 

 doubtless, to its bitter and 

 aromatic juices. This 

 reputation has largely de- 

 parted, but so great was 

 it at one time that the 

 plant was early brought 

 to this country and be- 

 came a conspicuous in- 

 mate of old-time gardens. 

 Along the New England 

 roads, a bed of Tansy 

 alone in the open, like a 

 neglected Lilac-bush or 

 one lone Lombardy Pop- 

 lar, frequently is all that 

 is left to mark the site of 

 a home and a garden long 

 since vanished. 



The blossoms make flat-topped clusters of yellow 

 buttons surmounting a mass of close-growing stems, 

 whose leaves are cut and cut, and cut again, until they 

 seem simply an aggregation of green points. It is 

 possible the plant may come to its own for landscape 

 effects, as it will with little care give great masses of 

 golden bloom. 



Tansy. TanacHum vulgdre 



265 



