Artemisia vulgaris
Artemisia cana
armoise vulgaire, common mugwort, common wormwood, felon-herb, green-ginger, lobed wormwood, mugwort
dwarf sagebrush, hoary sagebrush, silver sagebrush, silver wormwood, sticky sagebrush
relatively numerous, erect, brownish to reddish brown, simple proximally, branched distally (angularly ribbed), sparsely hairy or glabrous.
light brown to gray-green (woody, somewhat pliable, leafy), persistently canescent to glabrescent.
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).
deciduous, whitish gray or green to dark gray-green;
blades narrowly elliptic to lanceolate, 1.5–8 × 0.2–1 cm, usually entire, sometimes irregularly lobed, sparsely to densely hairy.
ovoid to campanulate, 2–3(–4) mm.
(subtended by green, leaflike bracts) narrowly to broadly campanulate, 3–4 × 2–5 mm.
pistillate 7–10;
bisexual (5–)8–20;
corollas yellowish to reddish brown, 1.5–3 mm, glabrous (style branches arched-curved, truncate, ciliate).
4–20;
corollas 2–3 mm, resinous (style branches ellipsoid, to 2.3 mm, exsert, gland-dotted).
lanceolate, hairy or glabrescent.
ovate or lanceolate (scarious margins nearly invisible), densely canescent.
in compact, paniculiform or racemiform arrays (10–)20–30(–40) × (5–)7–15(–20) cm.
in (congested, leafy) paniculiform arrays 10–20 × 0.2–7 cm.
ellipsoid, 0.5–1(–1.2) mm, glabrous, sometimes resinous.
(light brown) 1–2.3 mm, resinous.
= 18, 36, 40, 54.
Artemisia vulgaris
Artemisia cana
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 3 (3 in the flora).
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
1. Shrubs 100–150 cm; leaves 2–8 cm (entire); primarily e of continental divide | subsp. cana |
1. Shrubs 50–90 cm; leaves 1.5–4 cm (usually some with irregular lobes); w of continental divide | → 2 |
2. Stems felty-tomentose; leaves green to gray-green; involucres 4–5 mm diam.; California, Nevada, Oregon | subsp. bolanderi |
2. Stems hairy (not felty-tomentose); leaves green to dark green; involucres 2–3(–4) mm diam.; Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming | subsp. viscidula |
- 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
- Plants of the World Online
- Encyclopedia of Life
- Wikipedia
- Google Image Search
CalFlora
