COMPOSITAE (COMPOSITE FAMILY) 



495 



alternate, oblong, obtuse, scallop-toothed, one or two inches in 

 length, many with a pair of small lateral lobes near the base but 

 others without, those of the stem sessile except the lowermost. 

 Heads numerous in open corymbose clusters, some with rays but 

 oftener without ; rays, when present, are white, short, and spread- 

 ing ; all the florets are fertile ; bracts of the involucre narrow, 

 obtuse, somewhat hairy. Achenes slightly angled with a short 

 cup-like crown for pappus. 



Means of control the same as for Tansy. 



TANSY 

 Tanacktum vulgare, L. 



Other English names: Bitter Buttons, Ginger Plant, Parsley Fern. 



Introduced. Perennial. Propagates by seeds. 



Time of bloom: July to September. 



Seed-time: August to October. 



Range: Nova Scotia and Ontario to Minnesota, southward to 



Georgia and Missouri. 

 Habitat: Roadsides, farmyards, and waste places. 



An escape from garden cultivation. The oil 

 distilled from the plant, mixed with that of 

 Fleabane and Pennyroyal and diluted with 

 alcohol, make a "mosquito dope" useful to 

 hunters and fishermen and others who must 

 work where mosquitoes are troublesome. Col- 

 lectors receive three to five cents a pound for 

 the dried leaves and tops, gathered when in 

 full bloom. (Fig. 344.) 



Stem one to three feet high, rather stout, 

 smooth, usually unbranched, except at the 

 flowering top. Leaves alternate, the lower 

 ones sometimes a foot long, deep green, smooth, 

 pinnatifid, the segments narrow, acute, and 

 toothed, the petioles often with toothed mar- 

 gins ; upper leaves smaller and less divided. 

 Heads numerous in terminal corymbose clus- 

 ters, less than a half-inch broad, yellow, the 



FIG. 344. Tansy 

 (Tanacetum vulgare). 

 Xi. 



