7/22/11 TANSY

PLEASANT MORNING

TANSY

TANSY "BUTTONS"

AROMATIC LEAVES

Friday, 8:15 AM.  70 degrees, wind WSW, calm at ground level but the few puffy clouds moving fairly rapidly. The humidity, at 50%,  is much lower than a few days ago and it should be a pleasant summer day, as was yesterday.  The barometer predicts partly cloudy skies.
    Tansy, Tannecetum vulare, in the composite family, has just come into bloom, its yellow flower heads evident along roadsides and in fields.  Of European origin, it was once a valuable herb and much cultivated and has escaped into the wild.  It is a vigorous spreading plant and is considered invasive in Wisconsin, although I can’t see what all the fuss is about, since it is so well naturalized in certain habitats that it will never be gotten rid of, and it is not a noxious or dangerous plant. It should probably not be planted in the perennial garden as it does spread.
     In medieval times it was much used as a strewing herb, and also as a funereal plant as the whole plant has a very pungent, resinous odor.  Essential oils of the leaves and roots were used in folk medicine for a wide range of ailments, from expelling childhood worms to the treatment of gout. It also is reputed to have sedative powers. Like the millfoil (Achillea millifolia) which it somewhat resembles, it was  used for the treatment of wounds.
    The English call Tansy “buttons,” which is very descriptive of the individual flowers of the involucre, and is a good way to distinguish it from millfoil.