Artemisia vulgaris
Artemisia borealis
armoise vulgaire, common mugwort, common wormwood, felon-herb, green-ginger, lobed wormwood, mugwort
boreal wormwood, field sagewort
relatively numerous, erect, brownish to reddish brown, simple proximally, branched distally (angularly ribbed), sparsely hairy or glabrous.
(1–)2–5, gray-green, tomentose.
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, 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.
ovoid to campanulate, 2–3(–4) mm.
hemispheric, 3–4 × 3.5–4 mm.
pistillate 7–10;
bisexual (5–)8–20;
corollas yellowish to reddish brown, 1.5–3 mm, glabrous (style branches arched-curved, truncate, ciliate).
pistillate 8–10; functionally staminate 15–30;
corollas (or lobes) yellow-orange or deep red, 2.2–3.5.
lanceolate, hairy or glabrescent.
(obscurely scarious) densely tomentose-villous.
in compact, paniculiform or racemiform arrays (10–)20–30(–40) × (5–)7–15(–20) cm.
(proximal sessile, distal pedunculate) in (leafy) spiciform arrays 4–9(–12) × (0.5–)1–5 cm.
ellipsoid, 0.5–1(–1.2) mm, glabrous, sometimes resinous.
oblong-lanceoloid, somewhat compressed, 0.4–1 mm, faintly nerved, glabrous.
= 18, 36, 40, 54.
Artemisia vulgaris
Artemisia borealis
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.)
Subspecies 2 (2 in the flora).
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
1. Herbage villoso-tomentose, glabrate, or glabrous; corollas (at least lobes) usually yellow-orange, 2.2–3 mm; mountains, w North America | subsp. borealis |
1. Herbage white-hoary; corollas (at least lobes) deep red, 3–3.5 mm; w arctic North America | subsp. richardsoniana |
- Local floras:
BC, 
OR, 
WA - Local Web sites:
Flora NW, 
Go Botany, 
IL Wildflowers, 
KS Wildflowers, 
LA Plants, 
MD Biodiversity, 
MI Flora, 
MN Wildflowers, 
MO Plants, 
PNW Herbaria 
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist (observations)
USDA Plants Database- LBJ Wildflower Center
- SEINet
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CalFlora
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