Tansy – The Daily Flower for 23 February

It’s got a stem that’s described as stout. It has the hypocorism ‘buttons’. It was a favourite additive to Jack’s bourbon concoctions. It contains the same convulsion-causing substance that’s found in absinthe. Plus, it has a name derived from the Greek word Athanaton meaning immortal. All of which makes it pretty clear what kind of ‘courage’ the tansy connotes in the language of flowers: Dutch.

Who would have thought that Tanacetum vulgare, the little aster family member with its clusters of bright yellow flat-topped flowers and sweet camphory scent, would have such a dark side?

Tanacetum vulgare

Good for giving to: The terminally unbrave.

Great tansies in literature: What dreams of immortality, what visions, lo…

She wished to seat herself on a poor man's grave, where the bitter tansy grew; but for her there was neither peace nor rest; and when she danced towards the open church door, she saw an angel standing there.
From ‘The Red Shoes’ in Andersen's Fairy Tales by Hans Christian Andersens

Tags: flowers, tansy, buttons, Tanacetum vulgare, floriography