Artemisia dracunculus |
Artemisia aleutica |
|
---|---|---|
dragon herb, dragon sagewort, dragon wormwood, tarragon, wild tarragon |
Aleutian wormwood |
|
Habit | Perennials or subshrubs, 50–120(–150) cm, strongly tarragon-scented or not aromatic; rhizomatous, caudices coarse. | Perennials, 5–10 cm (cespitose), mildly aromatic; caudices branched. |
Stems | relatively numerous, erect, green to brown or reddish brown, somewhat woody, glabrous. |
usually 1, reddish brown to gray, tomentose to glabrate. |
Leaves | proximal blades bright green and glabrous or gray-green and sparsely hairy, 5–8 cm; cauline blades bright green (gray-green in desert forms), linear, lanceolate, or oblong, 1–7 × 0.1–0.5(–0.9) cm, mostly entire, sometimes irregularly lobed, acute, usually glabrous, sometimes glabrescent (deserts). |
persistent, mostly basal, gray-green; (petioles often expanded) blades (at least proximal) obovate, 1.5–5 × 0.5–1 cm, 2-palmately lobed, lobes relatively narrow, apices acute, faces densely white-villous (brownish in age); cauline smaller, distally 1-ternate. |
Involucres | globose, 2–3 × 2–3.5(–6) mm. |
hemispheric or globose, (2–)5–7 × (2–)6–8 mm. |
Florets | pistillate 6–25; functionally staminate 8–20; corollas pale yellow, 1.8–2 mm, eglandular or sparsely glandular. |
pistillate 4–6; functionally staminate 15–30; corollas purplish red, 1.5–2 mm, hairy. |
Phyllaries | (light brown, broadly lanceolate, membranous): margins broadly hyaline, glabrous. |
villous. |
Heads | in terminal or lateral, leafy, paniculiform arrays 15–45 × 6–30 cm; appearing ball-like on slender, sometimes nodding peduncles. |
(sessile or peduncles 2–15 mm) in racemiform or spiciform arrays, 1.5–3 × 0.5–1 cm. |
Cypselae | oblong, 0.5–0.8 mm, faintly nerved, glabrous. |
oblong, ca. 1 mm, faintly nerved, glabrous. |
2n | = 18. |
|
Artemisia dracunculus |
Artemisia aleutica |
|
Phenology | Flowering mid summer–late fall. | Flowering mid–late summer. |
Habitat | Open meadows and fields, desert scrub, moist drainages, roadsides | Open areas, fellfield tundra |
Elevation | 500–3000 m (1600–9800 ft) | 0–100 m (0–300 ft) |
Distribution |
AK; AZ; CA; CO; IA; ID; IL; KS; MN; MO; MT; ND; NE; NM; NV; OK; OR; SD; TX; UT; WA; WI; WY; AB; BC; MB; ON; SK; YT; Eurasia
|
AK |
Discussion | Artemisia dracunculus is widely cultivated as a culinary herb and may be introduced in parts of its range. It is easily cultivated from rootstocks, and while establishment from seeds is rare, seedlings can be found with amenable environmental conditions. Because of its popularity as an herb, it may suffer from overcollecting. Its scarcity in Missouri, Iowa, and Illinois (J. T. Kartesz and C. A. Meacham 1999) may have been caused by overly enthusiastic collecting as well as habitat loss. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Of conservation concern. Artemisia aleutica is known only from the western Aleutian Islands. It is morphologically similar to A. borealis, and the relationships of these species complexes warrant further study. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 19, p. 508. | FNA vol. 19, p. 505. |
Parent taxa | Asteraceae > tribe Anthemideae > Artemisia > subg. Drancunculus | Asteraceae > tribe Anthemideae > Artemisia > subg. Drancunculus |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | A. aromatica, A. dracunculina, A. dracunculoides, A. dracunculoides subsp. dracunculina, A. glauca, A. glauca var. megacephala | |
Name authority | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 2: 849. (1753) | Hultén: Bot. Not. 1939: 829, fig. 2. (1939) |
Web links |
|