40 AMERICAN MEDICINAL LEAVES AND HEBBS. 
Collection, prices, and uses.—The entire plant is collected at the time that it is in 
flower and is carefully dried. The coarser stems are rejected. Considerable shrinkage 
takes place in drying, the plant losing about four-fifths of its weight. The prices paid 
for yarrow are irom about 3 to 5 cents a pound. Yarrow was official in the United 
States Pharmacopeeia from 1860 to 1880. It has a strong, aromatic odor, very much 
like chamomile, and a 
sharp, bittertaste. It has 
been used as a stimulant 
tonic, for its action upon 
the bladder, and for check- 
ing excessive discharges. 
TANSY. 
Tanacetum vulgare L. 
Other common names.— 
Tanacetum, bitter but- 
tons, ginger plant, parsley 
fern, scented fern, English 
cost, hindheal. 
Habitat and range.—This 
is another garden plant 
introduced into this 
country from Europe and 
now escaped from cultiva- 
tion, occurring as a weed 
along waysides and fences 
from New England to Min- 
nesota and southward to 
North Carolina and Mis- 
sourl. 
Description.—Tansy is 
strong-scented perennial 
herb with finely divided, 
fernlike leaves and yel- 
low buttonlike flowers, and belongs to the aster family (Asteracez). It has a stout, 
somewhat reddish, erect stem, usually smooth, 14 to 3 feet high, and branching near 
the top. 
The entire leaf is about 6 inches long, its general outline oval, but it is divided 
nearly to the midrib into about seven pairs of segments, or lobes, which like the ter- 
minal one are again divided for about two-thirds of the distance to the midvein into 
smaller lobes having saw-toothed margins, giving to the leaf a somewhat feathery or 
fernlike appearance. The yellow flowers, borne in terminal clusters, are roundish 
and flat topped, surrounded by a set of dry, overlapping scales (the involucre). (Fig. 
32.) Tansy is in flower from about July to September. 
Collection, prices, and uscs.—The leaves and flowering tops of tansy are collected at 
the time of flowering and are carefully dried. They lose about four-fifths of their 
weight in drying. Their price ranges from about 3 to 5 cents a pound. 
Tansy has a strong, aromatic odor and a bitter taste. It is poisonous and has 
been known to produce fatal results. It has stimulant, tonic, and emmenagogue 
properties and is also used as a remedy against worms. 3 
219 
Fig. 32.—Tansy (Tanacetum vulgare), leaves and flowers. 
