Flora of North America species comparison

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Artemisia dracunculus

Artemisia subg. Drancunculus

dragon herb, dragon sagewort, dragon wormwood, tarragon, wild tarragon
Habit Perennials or subshrubs, 50–120(–150) cm, strongly tarragon-scented or not aromatic; rhizomatous, caudices coarse. Biennials, perennials, or subshrubs (shrubs in A. filifolia); fibrous rooted or taprooted, caudices woody, rhizomes absent.
Stems

relatively numerous, erect, green to brown or reddish brown, somewhat woody, glabrous.

wandlike (new stems may sprout from caudices).
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).

deciduous (persistent in A. aleutica and A. borealis), usually cauline, sometimes basal, not in fascicles.
Involucres

globose, 2–3 × 2–3.5(–6) mm.

Receptacles

epaleate, glabrous.
Florets

pistillate 6–25; functionally staminate 8–20;

corollas pale yellow, 1.8–2 mm, eglandular or sparsely glandular.

peripheral 1–25 pistillate and fertile;

central 3–32 functionally staminate (not setting fruits);

corollas subglobose.
Phyllaries

(light brown, broadly lanceolate, membranous): margins broadly hyaline, glabrous.

Heads

in terminal or lateral, leafy, paniculiform arrays 15–45 × 6–30 cm; appearing ball-like on slender, sometimes nodding peduncles.

disciform.
Cypselae

oblong, 0.5–0.8 mm, faintly nerved, glabrous.

2n

= 18.

Artemisia dracunculus

Artemisia subg. Drancunculus
Phenology Flowering mid summer–late fall.
Habitat Open meadows and fields, desert scrub, moist drainages, roadsides
Elevation 500–3000 m (1600–9800 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
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
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
North America; Eurasia
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.)

Species ca. 80 (8 in the flora).

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Key
1. Plants 5–30(–80+) cm (often cespitose and/or mounded)
→ 2
1. Plants (10–)50–180 cm (not cespitose)
→ 5
2. Perennials; leaves 2–3-palmately or -pinnately lobed
→ 3
2. Perennials or subshrubs; leaves 1–2-pinnately or -ternately lobed
→ 4
3. Leaves 2-palmately lobed; corollas purplish red; Aleutian Islands
A. aleutica
3. Leaves 2–3-pinnately or -ternately lobed; corollas (at least lobes) usually yellow- orange or deep red; n latitudes and w mountains
A. borealis
4. Leaves gray-green, lobes 1–2 mm wide; involucres 3–4 × 3–4 mm; corollas yellow, usually red-tinged, glabrous
A. pedatifida
4. Leaves silver-green, lobes mostly 2–3 mm wide; involucres 4–5(–7) × 2–3 mm wide; corollas pale yellow, glandular
A. porteri
5. Plants tarragon-scented or not aromatic; leaves mostly entire, sometimes (basal) irregularly lobed, faces usually glabrous, sometimes glabrescent (deserts)
A. dracunculus
5. Plants faintly to strongly aromatic (not tarragon-scented); leaves lobed, faces hairy
→ 6
6. Shrubs, 60–180 cm (rounded, stems wandlike); involucres 1.5–2 mm diam
A. filifolia
6. Biennials or perennials, (10–)30–80(–150) cm; involucres 2–4.5(–7) mm diam
→ 7
7. Stems usually 1–5; heads in (mostly leafless) paniculiform arrays
A. campestris
7. Stems usually 10+; heads (clustered in glomerules) in (densely leafy) paniculiform to spiciform arrays
A. pycnocephala
Source FNA vol. 19, p. 508. FNA vol. 19, p. 505.
Parent taxa Asteraceae > tribe Anthemideae > Artemisia > subg. Drancunculus Asteraceae > tribe Anthemideae > Artemisia
Sibling taxa
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. 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
Subordinate taxa
A. aleutica, A. borealis, A. campestris, A. dracunculus, A. filifolia, A. pedatifida, A. porteri, A. pycnocephala
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) Besser: Bull. Soc. Imp. Naturalistes Moscou 1: 223. (1829)
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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