Images: ©Jouko Lehmuskallio
Tansy
Tanacetum vulgare
- Family: Daisy Family – Asteraceae (Compositae)
- Growing form: Perennial herb.
- Height: 30–150 cm (12–60 in.)
- Flower: Numerous yellow, tubular, bisexual disc-florets are grouped together into flower-like heads (capitula) that are ca. 1 cm (0.4 in.) across. The corolla of the disc-florets is 5-lobed. The calyx is a rudimentary, membranous ring. There are 5 stamens with the anthers united into a tube around the style. The pistil is of 2 fused carpels, the style is solitary and the stigma 2-lobed.The capitulum is subtended by three whorls of involucral bracts which have brown margins and a membranous, rounded tip.
- Leaves: Alternate, short-stalked or stalkless. The blades are deeply pinnately, sometimes bipinnately, lobed, sparsely hairy and dotted with glands. The divisions are elliptic, pointed and toothed.
- Fruit: A ridged cypsela crowned by a low membranous ring.
- Habitats: Pebbly and rocky seashores, roadsides, outcrops of rock, in the inland often found near houses.
- Flowering time: July–September.
In Finland, the tansy is native to rocky seashores. From there, it has spread to many habitats of human influence such as roadsides, where it flowers beautifully at the end of the summer.
In northern Finland, this species is grown as an ornamental together with the common toadflax (Linaria vulgaris). Formerly, the tansy was used for dyeing wool and for flavouring food and wine. It is, however, poisonous in larger quantities.
