Flora of North America species comparison

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Artemisia annua

Artemisia pattersonii

annual wormwood, armoise annuelle, sweet annie, sweet sagewort

Patterson sagewort, Patterson's wormwood
Habit Annuals, 30–200(–300) cm, sweetly aromatic. Perennials, 8–20 cm, mildly aromatic.
Stems

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

gray-brown, glabrate or finely pubescent.
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.

deciduous, gray-green; petiolate;

blades (basal) broadly spatulate, 2–4 × 0.5 cm, pinnately lobed (lobes ca. 1.5 mm wide; cauline smaller, 1-pinnately lobed or entire), faces silky-hairy.
Involucres

globose, 1.5–2.5 × 1.5–2.5 mm.

broadly hemispheric, 5–8 × 5–8(–10) mm.
Florets

pistillate (0–)10–20;

bisexual 18–24;

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

pistillate 7–27;

bisexual 32–100;

corollas (yellow tinged with red), 2–3 mm (including exsert anthers), mostly glabrous (embedded in tangled receptacular hairs).
Phyllaries

(green) lanceolate, glabrous.

gray (margins dark brown to black), villous.
Heads

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

borne singly or (2–5, spreading to nodding, pedunculate) in paniculiform or racemiform arrays 1–5 × 0.5–1 cm.
Cypselae

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

1.5–2 mm, glabrous.
2n

= 18.

= 14.

Artemisia annua

Artemisia pattersonii
Phenology Flowering late summer–fall. Flowering mid–late summer.
Habitat Moist waste areas, sandy soils Alpine meadows
Elevation 0–2000 m (0–6600 ft) 3500–4000 m (11500–13100 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
CO; NM; WY
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.)

Artemisia pattersonii can be distinguished from the closely related A. scopulorum by its heads being borne singly and narrower phyllary margins.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 19, p. 523. FNA vol. 19, p. 520.
Parent taxa Asteraceae > tribe Anthemideae > Artemisia > subg. Artemisia Asteraceae > tribe Anthemideae > Artemisia > subg. Absinthium
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. 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. 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 A. monocephala, A. scopulorum var. monocephala
Name authority Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 2: 847. (1753) A. Gray: in A. Gray et al., Syn. Fl. N. Amer. ed. 2, 1(2): 453. (1886)
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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