Artemisia dracunculus |
Artemisia borealis |
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dragon herb, dragon sagewort, dragon wormwood, tarragon, wild tarragon |
boreal wormwood, field sagewort |
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Habit | Perennials or subshrubs, 50–120(–150) cm, strongly tarragon-scented or not aromatic; rhizomatous, caudices coarse. | Perennials, (6–)8–20(–40) cm (cespitose), mildly aromatic; taprooted, caudices branched. | ||||
Stems | relatively numerous, erect, green to brown or reddish brown, somewhat woody, glabrous. |
(1–)2–5, gray-green, tomentose. |
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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, basal rosettes persistent, gray-green to white; blades ovate, 2–4 × 0.5–1 cm, 2–3-pinnately or -ternately lobed, lobes linear to narrowly oblong, apices acute, faces moderately to densely sericeous. |
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Involucres | globose, 2–3 × 2–3.5(–6) mm. |
hemispheric, 3–4 × 3.5–4 mm. |
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Florets | pistillate 6–25; functionally staminate 8–20; corollas pale yellow, 1.8–2 mm, eglandular or sparsely glandular. |
pistillate 8–10; functionally staminate 15–30; corollas (or lobes) yellow-orange or deep red, 2.2–3.5. |
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Phyllaries | (light brown, broadly lanceolate, membranous): margins broadly hyaline, glabrous. |
(obscurely scarious) densely tomentose-villous. |
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Heads | in terminal or lateral, leafy, paniculiform arrays 15–45 × 6–30 cm; appearing ball-like on slender, sometimes nodding peduncles. |
(proximal sessile, distal pedunculate) in (leafy) spiciform arrays 4–9(–12) × (0.5–)1–5 cm. |
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Cypselae | oblong, 0.5–0.8 mm, faintly nerved, glabrous. |
oblong-lanceoloid, somewhat compressed, 0.4–1 mm, faintly nerved, glabrous. |
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2n | = 18. |
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Artemisia dracunculus |
Artemisia borealis |
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Phenology | Flowering mid summer–late fall. | |||||
Habitat | Open meadows and fields, desert scrub, moist drainages, roadsides | |||||
Elevation | 500–3000 m (1600–9800 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
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AK; CA; CO; ID; MT; UT; WA; WY; AB; BC; NT; NU; SK; YT; especially at high elevations and northern latitudes; Eurasia
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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.) |
Subspecies 2 (2 in the flora). (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Key |
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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 | ||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||
Synonyms | A. aromatica, A. dracunculina, A. dracunculoides, A. dracunculoides subsp. dracunculina, A. glauca, A. glauca var. megacephala | A. campestris subsp. borealis | ||||
Name authority | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 2: 849. (1753) | Pallas: Reise Russ. Reich. 3: 755. (1776) | ||||
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