Tansy - Tanacetum vulgare

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Description

Medium to tall, strongly aromatic plant to 1.5 metres, patch forming, almost hairless. Leaves pinnately lobed with lanceolate toothed segments, deep green, the uppermost unstalked. Flowerheads yellow, 7 to 12 mm, button like, rayless, in large, rather flat topped clusters.

Identification difficulty
Habitat

Waste places, roadsides, rough grassland and embankments.

When to see it

July to September.

Life History

Perennial.

UK Status

Fairly frequent throughout Britain.

VC55 Status

Fairly frequent in Leicestershire and Rutland. In the 1979 Flora survey of Leicestershire it was found in 86 of the 617 tetrads

  • Graham Calow
    Sapcote
    20 July 2006
  • Graham Calow
    A5 Witherley
    06 August 2015
  • Graham Calow
    Central Barrier of A5 near High Cross
    22 August 2016
  • Graham Calow
    Sapcote
    22 August 2014
  • Graham Calow
    Sapcote
    30 July 2008
  • Graham Calow
    Verge of M69 Sapcote
    27 July 2016
  • Graham Calow
    Road alongside M69, Elmesthorpe
    01 August 2016
  • Graham Calow
    Verge of M69 Sapcote
    27 July 2016

Leicestershire & Rutland Map

MAP KEY:

Yellow squares = NBN records (all known data)
Coloured circles = NatureSpot records: 2025+ | 2020-2024 | pre-2020

UK Map

Species data profile ?

Species profile

Common names
Tansy
Species group:
flowering plant
Kingdom:
Plantae
Order:
Asterales
Family:
Asteraceae
Records on NatureSpot:
100
First record:
20/07/2006 (Calow, Graham)
Last record:
25/09/2025 (lemmon, roy)

Total records by month

% of records within its species group

10km squares with records

The latest images and records displayed below include those awaiting verification checks so we cannot guarantee that every identification is correct. Once accepted, the record displays a green tick.

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Latest images

Latest records

  • Craig Mabbett
    Leicester Road, Countesthorpe
    13 September 2017
  • Graham Calow
    Sapcote
    22 August 2014
  • Graham Calow
    A5 Witherley
    06 August 2015
  • Graham Calow
    Sapcote
    23 September 2014
  • David Nicholls
    Abbey Park
    19 September 2010
  • Graham Calow
    Road alongside M69, Elmesthorpe
    01 August 2016
  • Graham Calow
    Jubilee Walk Leire
    27 September 2013
  • Graham Calow
    Verge of M69 Sapcote
    27 July 2016
Photo of the association

Macrosiphoniella tanacetaria

Macrosiphoniella tanacetaria apterae are large wax powdered green or pinkish-brown aphids which use Tansy as their main host plant, although a range of other host plants may also be used.

Photo of the association

Pink Tansy Aphid

The Pink Tansy Aphid (Metopeurum fuscoviride) feeds mainly on Tansy.  It is a medium-sized pink aphid with a large blackish spot on the abdomen. The antennal tubercles are very weakly developed, so that the front of head is very shallowly concave. The siphunculi are dark and thin and 1.3 to 2 times the length of the cauda. The cauda is dusky or dark, elongate triangular with a rather narrow apex, less than 1.7 times longer than its basal width. The body length of the apterae is 2.2-2.9 mm.