Yellow and Orange 



Simpling," published in 1656, assures maidens that tansy leaves laid 

 to soak in buttermilk for nine days "maketh the complexion very 

 fair." Tansy tea, in short, cured every ill that flesh is heir to, ac- 

 cording to the simple faith of mediaeval herbalists — a faith surviv- 

 ing in some old women even to this day. The name is said to 

 be a corruption of athanasia, derived from two Greek words 

 meaning immortality. When some monks in reading Lucian 

 came across the passage where Jove, speaking of Ganymede to 

 Mercury, says, "Take him hence, and when he has tasted im- 

 mortality let him return to us," their literal minds inferred that this 

 plant must have been what Ganymede tasted, hence they named it 

 athanasia ! So great credence having been given to its medicinal 

 powers in Europe, it is not strange the colonists felt they could 

 not live in the New World without tansy. Strong-scented pun- 

 gent tufts topped with bright yellow buttons— runaways from 

 old gardens — are a conspicuous feature along many a roadside 

 leading to colonial homesteads. 



Golden Ragwort; Groundsel; Squaw-weed 



{Senecio aureus) Thistle family 



Mower-heads — Golden yellow, about % in. across, borne on slender 

 peduncles in a loose, leafless cluster ; rays 8 to 12 around 

 minute disk florets. Stem : Slender, 1 to 2}^ ft. high, solitary 

 or tufted, from a strong-scented root. Leaves : From the root, 

 on long petioles, rounded or heart-shaped, scalloped-edged, 

 often purplish ; stem leaves variable, lance-shaped or lyrate, 

 deeply cut, sessile. 



Preferred Habitat — Swamps, wet ground, meadows. 



Flowering Season — May — July. 



Distribution — Gulf States northward to Missouri, Ontario, and 

 Newfoundland. 



While the aster clan is the largest we have in North America, 

 this genus Senecio is really the most numerous branch of the great 

 composite tribe, numbering as it does nearly a thousand species, re- 

 presented in all quarters of the earth. It is said to take its name 

 from senex = an old man, in reference to the white hairs on many 

 species; or, more likely, to the silky pappus that soon makes the 

 fertile disks hoary headed. "I see the downy heads of the 

 senecio gone to seed, thistle like but small," wrote Thoreau in his 

 journal under date of July 2d, when only the pussy-toes everlast- 

 ing could have plumed its seeds for flight over the dry uplands in 

 a similar fashion. Innumerable as the yellow, daisy-like com- 

 posites are, most of them appear in late summer or autumn, and 

 so the novice should have little diificulty in naming these loosely 

 clustered, bright, early blooming, small heads. 



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