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bursage mugwort, ragweed sagebrush

armoise vulgaire, common mugwort, common wormwood, felon-herb, green-ginger, lobed wormwood, mugwort

Habit Biennials or perennials, 30–100 cm, faintly aromatic (rhizomatous). Perennials, (40–)60–190 cm, sometimes faintly aromatic (rhizomes coarse).
Stems

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

relatively numerous, erect, brownish to reddish brown, simple proximally, branched distally (angularly ribbed), sparsely hairy or glabrous.

Leaves

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.

basal (petiolate) and cauline (sessile), uniformly green or bicolor;

blades broadly lanceolate, ovate, or linear, (2–)3–10(–12) × 1.8–8 cm (proximal reduced and entire, distal pinnately dissected, lobes to 20 mm wide), faces pubescent or glabrescent (abaxial) or glabrous (adaxial).

Involucres

broadly ovate, 3–5 × 4–5(–6) mm.

ovoid to campanulate, 2–3(–4) mm.

Florets

pistillate 4–5(–13), (1–1.5 mm);

bisexual 25–35;

corollas yellow, 1.5–2 mm, glabrous.

pistillate 7–10;

bisexual (5–)8–20;

corollas yellowish to reddish brown, 1.5–3 mm, glabrous (style branches arched-curved, truncate, ciliate).

Phyllaries

broadly ovate, sparsely hairy.

lanceolate, hairy or glabrescent.

Heads

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

in compact, paniculiform or racemiform arrays (10–)20–30(–40) × (5–)7–15(–20) cm.

Cypselae

elliptic, 0.5–0.8 mm, glabrous.

ellipsoid, 0.5–1(–1.2) mm, glabrous, sometimes resinous.

2n

= 18, 36, 40, 54.

Artemisia franserioides

Artemisia vulgaris

Phenology Flowering late summer–early fall. Flowering mid summer–late fall.
Habitat Open coniferous forests, mid to upper montane Sandy or loamy soils, forested areas, coastal strands, roadsides
Elevation 2200–3100 m (7200–10200 ft) 0–500 m (0–1600 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AZ; CO; NM; Mexico (Chihuahua)
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AK; AL; CT; DC; DE; FL; GA; IA; ID; IL; IN; KS; KY; LA; MA; MD; ME; MI; MN; MO; MT; NC; NH; NJ; NY; OH; OR; PA; RI; SC; TN; VA; VT; WA; WI; WV; AB; BC; MB; NB; NF; NS; ON; PE; QC; SK; Greenland; Eurasia [Introduced in North America]
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Grown as a medicinal plant, most commonly as a vermifuge, Artemisia vulgaris is widely established in eastern North America and is often weedy in disturbed sites. Populational differences in morphologic forms are reflected in size of flowering heads, degree of dissection of leaves, and overall color of plants (from pale to dark green), suggesting multiple introductions that may date back to the first visits by Europeans. It is tempting to recognize the different forms as subspecies and varieties; the array of variation in the field is bewildering. If genetically distinct forms exist in native populations, the differences appear to have been blurred by introgression among the various introductions in North America. A case could be made for recognizing var. kamtschatica in Alaska based on its larger heads and shorter growth form; apparent introgression with populations that extend across Canada confounds that taxonomic segregation.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Source FNA vol. 19, p. 525. FNA vol. 19, p. 533.
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. 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
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. 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
Synonyms A. opulenta, A. vulgaris var. glabra, A. vulgaris var. kamtschatica
Name authority Greene: Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 10: 42. (1883) Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 2: 848. (1753)
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