Artemisia absinthium
Artemisia porteri
absinth wormwood, absinthe, absinthe wormwood, absinthium, armoise absinthe, common wormwood, green ginger, oldman, oldman wormwood, wormwood
Porter mugwort, Porter's wormwood
gray-green (sometimes woody proximally), densely canescent to glabrescent (hairs appressed).
5–8, silver-gray, densely tomentose.
deciduous, gray-green;
blades broadly ovate, 3–8 × 1–4 cm, mostly pinnately lobed (basal 2–3-pinnatifid, lobes obovate), faces densely canescent.
persistent, silver-green, mostly basal;
proximalmost blades 3–4 × 1–1.5 cm, 1-pinnately lobed, lobes mostly 2–3 mm wide;
blades of flowering stems somewhat reduced, (1–)2–3(–5) × 0.15 cm, mostly entire;
apices rounded, faces densely hairy.
broadly ovoid, 2–3 × 3–5 mm.
broadly campanulate, 4–5(–7) × 2–3 mm.
pistillate 9–20;
bisexual 30–50;
corollas 1–2 mm, glandular.
pistillate 8–10 (2–2.8 mm); functionally staminate 22–32;
corollas pale yellow, 2.2–4.5 mm, glandular.
gray-green, densely sericeous.
(ovate, margins broadly scarious) densely tomentose.
(nodding) in open (diffusely branched), paniculiform arrays 10–20(–35) × (2–)10–13(–15) cm.
borne singly or (clustered in 2s and 3s on lateral branches; peduncles 0 or to 5 mm) in paniculiform arrays, (2–)4–9 × 1–1.5(–2) cm.
(± cylindric, slightly curved, obscurely nerved), ± 0.5 mm, glabrous (shiny).
(light brown) ellipsoid, flattened (faintly nerved), 1.5–2 mm, sparsely hairy, glabrous or resinous.
= 18.
Artemisia absinthium
Artemisia porteri
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.)
Although Cronquist observed that Artemisia porteri may be an autopolyploid derivative of A. pedatifida, morphologic similarities to northerly cespitose taxa suggest a more complex origin.
Artemisia porteri is in the Center for Plant Conservation’s National Collection of Endangered Plants.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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