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absinth wormwood, absinthe, absinthe wormwood, absinthium, armoise absinthe, common wormwood, green ginger, oldman, oldman wormwood, wormwood

cut-leaf sagebrush, three-tip sagebrush

Habit Perennials, 40–60(–100) cm (mat-forming), aromatic. Shrubs, 5–15 or 20–150(–200) cm, aromatic; root-sprouting (caudices with adventitious buds, fibrous rooted).
Stems

gray-green (sometimes woody proximally), densely canescent to glabrescent (hairs appressed).

pale gray, glabrous.

Leaves

deciduous, gray-green;

blades broadly ovate, 3–8 × 1–4 cm, mostly pinnately lobed (basal 2–3-pinnatifid, lobes obovate), faces densely canescent.

deciduous, gray-green;

blades broadly cuneate, 1.5–4 × 0.5–2 cm, deeply 3-lobed (lobes 1–1.4 mm wide, acute; cauline leaves smaller, mostly 3-lobed).

Involucres

broadly ovoid, 2–3 × 3–5 mm.

globose or turbinate, 2–4 × 1.5–3 mm.

Florets

pistillate 9–20;

bisexual 30–50;

corollas 1–2 mm, glandular.

3–11;

corollas 2–2.5 mm, glandular (style branches included).

Phyllaries

gray-green, densely sericeous.

broadly lanceolate (margins scarious, obscured by indument), canescent.

Heads

(nodding) in open (diffusely branched), paniculiform arrays 10–20(–35) × (2–)10–13(–15) cm.

in paniculiform or spiciform arrays (5–)8–15(–35) × (0.5–)1–5 cm.

Cypselae

(± cylindric, slightly curved, obscurely nerved), ± 0.5 mm, glabrous (shiny).

(columnar, unequally ribbed) 1.8–2.3 mm, glabrous or resinous.

2n

= 18.

Artemisia absinthium

Artemisia tripartita

Phenology Flowering mid summer–fall.
Habitat Widely cultivated, persisting from plantings, disturbed areas
Elevation 0–1000 m [0–3300 ft]
Distribution
from FNA
CA; CO; CT; IA; ID; IL; IN; KS; MA; MD; ME; MI; MN; MO; MT; NC; ND; NE; NH; NJ; NY; OH; OR; PA; RI; SC; SD; TN; UT; VT; WA; WI; WY; AB; BC; MB; NB; NF; NS; ON; PE; QC; SK; Europe [Introduced in North America]
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
ID; NV; OR; WA; WY; BC
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

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 2 (2 in the flora).

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Key
1. Shrubs 20–150(–200) cm; lobes of leaves linear, to 0.5 mm wide; loamy soils, w of continental divide
subsp. tripartita
1. Shrubs 5–15 cm; lobes of leaves lanceolate, 1–1.5 mm wide; stony grasslands, e Wyoming
subsp. rupicola
Source FNA vol. 19, p. 519. Treatment author: Leila M. Shultz. FNA vol. 19, p. 518. Treatment author: Leila M. Shultz.
Parent taxa Asteraceae > tribe Anthemideae > Artemisia > subg. Absinthium Asteraceae > tribe Anthemideae > Artemisia > subg. Tridentatae
Sibling taxa
A. abrotanum, A. alaskana, A. aleutica, A. annua, A. arbuscula, A. biennis, A. bigelovii, A. borealis, A. californica, A. campestris, A. cana, A. carruthii, A. douglasiana, A. dracunculus, A. filifolia, A. franserioides, A. frigida, A. furcata, A. globularia, A. glomerata, A. laciniata, A. longifolia, A. ludoviciana, A. michauxiana, A. nesiotica, A. norvegica, A. nova, A. packardiae, A. palmeri, A. papposa, A. pattersonii, A. pedatifida, A. pontica, A. porteri, A. pycnocephala, A. pygmaea, A. rigida, A. rothrockii, A. rupestris, A. scopulorum, A. senjavinensis, A. serrata, A. spiciformis, A. stelleriana, A. suksdorfii, A. tilesii, A. tridentata, A. tripartita, A. vulgaris
A. abrotanum, A. absinthium, A. alaskana, A. aleutica, A. annua, A. arbuscula, A. biennis, A. bigelovii, A. borealis, A. californica, A. campestris, A. cana, A. carruthii, A. douglasiana, A. dracunculus, A. filifolia, A. franserioides, A. frigida, A. furcata, A. globularia, A. glomerata, A. laciniata, A. longifolia, A. ludoviciana, A. michauxiana, A. nesiotica, A. norvegica, A. nova, A. packardiae, A. palmeri, A. papposa, A. pattersonii, A. pedatifida, A. pontica, A. porteri, A. pycnocephala, A. pygmaea, A. rigida, A. rothrockii, A. rupestris, A. scopulorum, A. senjavinensis, A. serrata, A. spiciformis, A. stelleriana, A. suksdorfii, A. tilesii, A. tridentata, A. vulgaris
Subordinate taxa
A. tripartita subsp. rupicola, A. tripartita subsp. tripartita
Synonyms A. trifida, A. tridentata subsp. trifida, Seriphidium tripartitum
Name authority Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 2: 848. (1753) Rydberg: Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 1: 432. (1900)
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