Flora of North America species comparison

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Artemisia annua

Artemisia franserioides

annual wormwood, armoise annuelle, sweet annie, sweet sagewort

bursage mugwort, ragweed sagebrush
Habit Annuals, 30–200(–300) cm, sweetly aromatic. Biennials or perennials, 30–100 cm, faintly aromatic (rhizomatous).
Stems

mostly 1, erect, green, turning to reddish brown with age, simple (smooth or ribbed), glabrous or sparsely hairy.

1–3, erect, reddish brown, simple (leafy), glabrous or glabrate.
Leaves

cauline, bright green;

blades triangular to broadly ovate, 2–5(–10) × 2–4 cm, 2–3-pinnatifid (lobes relatively narrow, ± toothed), faces glabrous, gland-dotted.

basal (in rosettes, petiolate) and cauline, bicolor (white and green);

blades ovate, 3–7(–20) × 2–4(–6) cm, 2–3-pinnately-lobed (lobes elliptic, 2–6 mm wide; cauline sessile, smaller), faces tomentose (abaxial) or glabrous or glabrescent (adaxial), glandular.
Involucres

globose, 1.5–2.5 × 1.5–2.5 mm.

broadly ovate, 3–5 × 4–5(–6) mm.
Florets

pistillate (0–)10–20;

bisexual 18–24;

corollas pale yellow (broadly campanulate), 0.5–1 mm, glabrous.

pistillate 4–5(–13), (1–1.5 mm);

bisexual 25–35;

corollas yellow, 1.5–2 mm, glabrous.
Phyllaries

(green) lanceolate, glabrous.

broadly ovate, sparsely hairy.
Heads

(nodding, peduncles 2–5 mm) in open, (diffusely branched, leafy) arrays 15–30(–40) × 10–20 cm.

(nodding, peduncles 0 or 2) in paniculiform to racemiform arrays 10–35 × 2–4 cm (often 1-sided).
Cypselae

oblong (flattened), 0.3–0.8 mm, glabrous.

elliptic, 0.5–0.8 mm, glabrous.
2n

= 18.

Artemisia annua

Artemisia franserioides
Phenology Flowering late summer–fall. Flowering late summer–early fall.
Habitat Moist waste areas, sandy soils Open coniferous forests, mid to upper montane
Elevation 0–2000 m (0–6600 ft) 2200–3100 m (7200–10200 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AL; AR; AZ; CA; CO; CT; DC; DE; IA; ID; IL; IN; KS; KY; LA; MA; MD; ME; MI; MS; MT; NC; NE; NH; NJ; NY; OH; OK; OR; PA; TN; TX; VA; VT; WA; WI; WV; WY; NB; ON; QC; Eurasia [Introduced in North America]
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AZ; CO; NM; Mexico (Chihuahua)
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Widely cultivated for aromatic oils, Artemisia annua often persists in gardens, becoming naturalized in moist-temperate areas (especially in eastern United States). Reports of naturalization may be exaggerated (reported for Prince Edward Island, but not established).

The systematic placement of this species appears to align most closely with species of the Eurasian subg. Seriphidium (L. E. Watson et al. 2002). Molecular evidence suggests that the Artemisia annua lineage may be ancestral to woody species in the Old World.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 19, p. 523. FNA vol. 19, p. 525.
Parent taxa Asteraceae > tribe Anthemideae > Artemisia > subg. Artemisia Asteraceae > tribe Anthemideae > Artemisia > subg. Artemisia
Sibling taxa
A. abrotanum, A. absinthium, A. alaskana, A. aleutica, 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. 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
Synonyms A. chamomilla
Name authority Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 2: 847. (1753) Greene: Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 10: 42. (1883)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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