The flowers are very small, of a strong, full yellow, tending slightly toward green; packed tightly into a flat head, like a button with a little dent in the middle. The heads, enclosed in a shallow, yellow-green leafy cup, are set on slender, light green stems, and arranged in large, loose terminal clusters.
Growing in thickly-settled communities the Tansy plant forms a well known member of the roadside tenantry with its noble dark foliage, luxuriant and usually free from blight, and strong stalks topped profusely by the flower clusters, whose yellow is toned to a remarkable harmony with green. On a hot day the smell of the Tansy may be perceived at a considerable distance. “In the spring time are made with the leaves hereof, newly sprung up, and with eggs, cakes or Tansies, which be pleasant in taste, and goode for the stomacke,” says Gerarde, and echoes of rules for Tansy-cakes come to us from the records of early New England house-wives.
TANSY: Tanacetum vulgare.
| Black-Eyed Susan. | Rudbeckia hirta. |
| Cone Flower. | |
| Coreopsis. | |
| “Yellow Daisy.” | |
| Golden Jerusalem (N. H.) |
Found in sunny meadows and grass fields during July and August in great profusion.
The stalk (from 1 to 2 feet high) is very erect, sometimes bears branches, and is sparingly leafy; it is strong-fibred, coarse-textured, and hairy. The color, light green, is often brownish near the foot.
The leaf is long and narrow, with a fine-pointed tip, and an entire margin; the texture is loose, and the surface rough. The color is yellow-green. It slightly clasps the stalk. The leaves are arranged sparsely and alternately.
The minute flowers, of a rich, deep purple-brown color, are packed smoothly and closely in a cone-shaped head, the base of which is surrounded by a single row of 12 or 15 rays; these rays are over an inch long, and are sometimes one-half wide, they are blunt-pointed with a notched top, their texture is silken and faintly shows the veins, and their color is of a noble full yellow. The head is set upon a mat made of a double row of overlapping, small, green parts, and is borne singly on the summit of the stalk, or branch.
A ruthless invader of mowing lots where it makes a brilliant patch of color that may be discerned from afar, the farmer wages war on this handsome flower. It is not unusual to find it indulging in odd variations upon the established habit of blossoming, such as doubling the rows of rays, or with two or three heads bunched together, or set atop of one another.