Artemisia absinthium
Artemisia ludoviciana
absinth wormwood, absinthe, absinthe wormwood, absinthium, armoise absinthe, common wormwood, green ginger, oldman, oldman wormwood, wormwood
gray sagewort, prairie sage, silver sage, silver wormwood, western mugwort, western wormwood, white sage, white sagebrush, white wormwood
gray-green (sometimes woody proximally), densely canescent to glabrescent (hairs appressed).
relatively few to relatively numerous, erect, gray-green, simple or widely branched, hairy.
deciduous, gray-green;
blades broadly ovate, 3–8 × 1–4 cm, mostly pinnately lobed (basal 2–3-pinnatifid, lobes obovate), faces densely canescent.
cauline, uniformly gray-green, green, or white, or bicolor (white and green);
blades linear to broadly elliptic, 1.5–11 × 0.5–4 cm, entire or lobed to relatively deeply pinnatifid, faces hairy.
broadly ovoid, 2–3 × 3–5 mm.
campanulate or turbinate, (1–)2–4(–5) × 2–5(–8) mm.
pistillate 9–20;
bisexual 30–50;
corollas 1–2 mm, glandular.
pistillate 5–12;
bisexual 6–45;
corollas yellow, sometimes red-tinged, 1.5–2.8 mm, glabrous.
gray-green, densely sericeous.
(gray-green), lanceolate to ovate or obovate (margins narrowly hyaline), densely tomentose.
(nodding) in open (diffusely branched), paniculiform arrays 10–20(–35) × (2–)10–13(–15) cm.
(erect to nodding, peduncles 0 or 2–5 mm) in congested to open (widely branched) arrays.
(± cylindric, slightly curved, obscurely nerved), ± 0.5 mm, glabrous (shiny).
ellipsoid ca. 0.5 mm, (obscurely nerved) glabrous.
= 18.
= 18, 36, 54.
Artemisia absinthium
Artemisia ludoviciana
Artemisia absinthium provides the flavoring as well as the psychoactive ingredient for absinthe liquor, a beverage that is illegal in some markets. Known as a powerful neurotoxin, absinthe in large quantities is addictive as well as deadly. The species is popular in the horticultural trade. Prized by gardeners for its gracefully scalloped leaves and gray-green foliage, it creates an attractive and winter-hardy flower border.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Subspecies ca. 7 (6 in the flora).
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
1. Leaves usually relatively deeply lobed (1/3+ widths, nearly to midrib, proximal leaves sometimes entire); involucres 3–8 mm diam.; mountain meadows and slopes | → 2 |
1. Leaves entire or relatively shallowly lobed (lobes to 1/3 widths); involucres 2–3(–4) mm diam.; desert valleys and mountains | → 3 |
2. Involucres 4–5 × 4–8 mm | subsp. candicans |
2. Involucres 3–4 × 3–5 mm | subsp. incompta |
3. Heads in paniculiform arrays (4–)8–30 cm diam.; leaves mostly 1.5–2 cm | subsp. albula |
3. Heads in paniculiform or racemiform arrays 1–6 cm diam.; leaves 1.5–11 cm | → 4 |
4. Leaf margins plane | subsp. ludoviciana |
4. Leaf margins revolute | → 5 |
5. Leaves bicolor (gray-green and bright green), margins mostly entire, abaxial faces glabrous | subsp. redolens |
5. Leaves gray-green, margins usually lobed, abaxial faces hairy | subsp. mexicana |
- Local floras:
BC, 
OR, 
WA - Local Web sites:
Flora NW, 
Go Botany, 
IL Wildflowers, 
KS Wildflowers, 
MD Biodiversity, 
MI Flora, 
MN Wildflowers, 
MO Plants, 
PNW Herbaria, Turner Photog. 
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist (observations)
USDA Plants Database- LBJ Wildflower Center
- SEINet
- Plants of the World Online
- Encyclopedia of Life
- Wikipedia
- Google Image Search
- Local floras: BC,
CA, OR, WA - Local Web sites: CalFlora, CalPhotos, Flora NW, Go Botany, IL Wildflowers, KS Wildflowers,
LA Plants, MD Biodiversity, MI Flora, MN Wildflowers, MO Plants, PNW Herbaria, 
SW CO Wildflowers, Turner Photog. - WildflowerSearch
- iNaturalist (observations)
- USDA Plants Database
- LBJ Wildflower Center
- SEINet
- Plants of the World Online
- Encyclopedia of Life
- Wikipedia
- Google Image Search
