COMPOSITE FAMILY 



Tarragon, Artemisia dracHnculus, the aromatic plant used for 

 seasoning salads and flavoring vinegar, belongs here. 



Lavender Cotton, Santollna chamcscyparissus, is a hardy, haU- 

 shrubby, much-branched plant about two feet high, with small 

 silvery-gray evergreen leaves, and in the summer many small 

 heads of yellow flowers. Is often used in carpet beds. 



Tansy, TanecUum vulgtre, is an aromatic plant now dwelling 

 principally upon the roadside, consisting apparently of a mass of 

 dark-green feathery foUage that in July becomes a bank of yellow 

 buttons which are discoid flower-heads borne in dense, flat-topped 

 cymes. 



Some very curious old English customs are connected with 

 Tansy. The leaves were put into cakes which were eaten at 

 Easter, some say in memory of the bitter herbs eaten by the Jews 

 at the Passover; others deny this and say that people ate Tansy 

 because it was wholesome, after so much salt fish had been con- 

 sumed during Lent. Certain it is that there was a cake or fritter 

 called Tansie and into it Tansy leaves entered as an essential 

 ingredient. 



The list of delicious viands served at the coronation of King 

 James II and his queen includes "Tansie." Tansy tea is still 

 used at the South for colds, but from English cookery the plant 

 has absolutely disappeared. 



Si6 



