Tanacetum
(said to be an altered form of Athanasia, from athanatos, immortal; in allusion to the persistent flowers). Tansy. ORD. Compositae. A genus embracing about thirty species of mostly hardy, erect, often odorous, annual or perennial herbs, often suffrutescent at base, natives of Europe, North Africa, Central and Northern Asia, and North America. Flower-heads yellow, small or mediocre, corymbose, or rarely solitary and long--pedunculate, disk--formed; involucre hemispherical or campanulate, rarely ovoid, the bracts many-seriate; receptacle flat or slightly convex, naked; achenes and florets often glandular. Leaves alternate, variously dissected, or rarely entire and toothed. The species are not possessed of much beauty. Those here described are perennials, thriving in ordinary soil. Propagated by divisions. T. Balsamita (Balsamita). Costmary. fl.-heads yellow, in branched corymbs; ray very small or absent. Autumn. l. elliptic, obtuse, minutely and regularly crenate-dentate, the radical ones stalked, often sub-cordate. h. 2ft. to 3ft. Orient (naturalised in several European countries). SYN. Balsamita vulgaris. T. elegans (elegant). A synonym of T. huronense.
T. huronense (Lake Huron). fl.-heads golden-yellow, twin or sub-corymbose; involucre campanulate; florets thickened at base and apex. Summer. l. bipinnate; lobes short, rounded, entire or three-lobuled, the margins revolute. Stem erect, branched, and (as well as the young leaves) silvery-velvety. h. 1 1/2ft. North America. SYN. T. elegans (F. d. S. 1191). T. leucophyllum (white-leaved).* fl.-heads golden-yellow, corymbose; involucre hemispherical, with imbricated bracts; florets slightly exceeding the involucre; peduncles solitary in the axils of the upper leaves. Summer. l. sessile or shortly petiolate, roundish-ovate; lower ones bipinnatisect; upper ones pinnatisect. Stems ascending. h. 9in. Turkestan. Plant silvery-silky. (R. G. 1064.) T. vulgare (common). Buttons; Common Tansy. fl.-heads many, 1/3in. in diameter, corymbose; peduncle stout. August and September. l. 2in. to 5in. long, once or twice pinnatifid, oblong, glandular-dotted; upper ones half-amplexicaul; lower ones petiolate. Stem 2ft. to 3ft. high, grooved and angled, leafy. Europe (Britain), &c. (F. D. v. 871; Sy. En. B. 716.) A variety with curled leaves is cultivated as an ornamental plant for garnishing dishes.