perennial
belonging to the Compositae and a native of southern Europe. It grows
from 2 to 4 feet tall, bears hairlike, highly aromatic leaves and heads
of small yellow flowers. The plant is often found in old-fashioned
gardens as an ornamental under the name of Old Man. In some countries
the young shoots are used for flavoring cakes and other culinary
preparations.

=Tansy= (_Tanacetum vulgare_, Linn.), a perennial of the Compositae, native
of Europe, whence it has spread with civilization as a weed almost all
over the world. From the very persistent underground parts annual,
usually unbranched stems, sometimes 3 feet tall, are produced in more or
less abundance. They bear much-divided, oval, oblong leaves and numerous
small, yellow flower-heads in usually crowded corymbs. The small, nearly
conical seeds have five gray ribs and retain their germinability for
about two years.

Tansy is easily propagated by division of the clumps or by seed sown in
a hotbed for the transplanting of seedlings. It does well in any
moderately fertile garden soil, but why anyone should grow it except for
ornament, either in the garden or as an inedible garnish, is more than I
can understand. While its odor is not exactly repulsive, its acrid,
bitter taste is such that a nibble, certainly a single leaf, would last
most people a lifetime. Yet some people use it to flavor puddings,
omelettes, salads, stews and other culinary dishes. Surely a peculiar
order of gustatory preference! It is said that donkeys will eat
thistles, but I have never known them to eat tansy, and I am free to
confess that I rather admire their preference for the thistles.

=Tarragon= (_Artemisia Dracunculus_, Linn.), a fairly hardy, herbaceous
rather shrubby perennial of the Compositae, supposed to be a native of
southern Russia, Siberia, and Tartary, cultivated for scarcely more
than 500 years for its leaves and tender shoots. In all civilized
countries its popular name, like its specific name, means dragon, though
why it should be so called is not clear.

[Illustration: Tarragon, the French Chef's Delight]

_Description._--The plant has numerous branching stems, which bear
lance-shaped leaves and nowadays white, sterile flowers. Formerly the
flowers were said to be fertile. No one should buy the seed offered as
tarragon. It is probably that of a related plant which resembles
tarragon in everything except flavor--which is absent! _Tagetes lucida_,
which may be used a