Artemisia vulgaris |
Artemisia aleutica |
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armoise vulgaire, common mugwort, common wormwood, felon-herb, green-ginger, lobed wormwood, mugwort |
Aleutian wormwood |
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Habit | Perennials, (40–)60–190 cm, sometimes faintly aromatic (rhizomes coarse). | Perennials, 5–10 cm (cespitose), mildly aromatic; caudices branched. |
Stems | relatively numerous, erect, brownish to reddish brown, simple proximally, branched distally (angularly ribbed), sparsely hairy or glabrous. |
usually 1, reddish brown to gray, tomentose to glabrate. |
Leaves | 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). |
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 | ovoid to campanulate, 2–3(–4) mm. |
hemispheric or globose, (2–)5–7 × (2–)6–8 mm. |
Florets | pistillate 7–10; bisexual (5–)8–20; corollas yellowish to reddish brown, 1.5–3 mm, glabrous (style branches arched-curved, truncate, ciliate). |
pistillate 4–6; functionally staminate 15–30; corollas purplish red, 1.5–2 mm, hairy. |
Phyllaries | lanceolate, hairy or glabrescent. |
villous. |
Heads | in compact, paniculiform or racemiform arrays (10–)20–30(–40) × (5–)7–15(–20) cm. |
(sessile or peduncles 2–15 mm) in racemiform or spiciform arrays, 1.5–3 × 0.5–1 cm. |
Cypselae | ellipsoid, 0.5–1(–1.2) mm, glabrous, sometimes resinous. |
oblong, ca. 1 mm, faintly nerved, glabrous. |
2n | = 18, 36, 40, 54. |
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Artemisia vulgaris |
Artemisia aleutica |
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Phenology | Flowering mid summer–late fall. | Flowering mid–late summer. |
Habitat | Sandy or loamy soils, forested areas, coastal strands, roadsides | Open areas, fellfield tundra |
Elevation | 0–500 m (0–1600 ft) | 0–100 m (0–300 ft) |
Distribution |
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]
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AK |
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.) |
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. 533. | FNA vol. 19, p. 505. |
Parent taxa | Asteraceae > tribe Anthemideae > Artemisia > subg. Artemisia | Asteraceae > tribe Anthemideae > Artemisia > subg. Drancunculus |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | A. opulenta, A. vulgaris var. glabra, A. vulgaris var. kamtschatica | |
Name authority | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 2: 848. (1753) | Hultén: Bot. Not. 1939: 829, fig. 2. (1939) |
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