Artemisia vulgaris |
Artemisia furcata |
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armoise vulgaire, common mugwort, common wormwood, felon-herb, green-ginger, lobed wormwood, mugwort |
fork wormwood, three-fork mugwort, three-fork wormwood |
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Habit | Perennials, (40–)60–190 cm, sometimes faintly aromatic (rhizomes coarse). | Perennials, 7–35 cm (not cespitose), faintly aromatic (not rhizomatous, taproots stout, caudices simple or branched, branches clothed with persistent leaf bases). |
Stems | relatively numerous, erect, brownish to reddish brown, simple proximally, branched distally (angularly ribbed), sparsely hairy or glabrous. |
(flowering) 1–5, erect, light brown, simple, strigillose or 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). |
basal (in rosettes) and cauline, gray-green; blades oval, 2–10(–12) cm (basal) or 1–1.5 × 0.4–0.6 cm (cauline), 1–3-palmately lobed, faces sparsely to densely strigillose. |
Involucres | ovoid to campanulate, 2–3(–4) mm. |
broadly campanulate, 3–6 × 4.5–8 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 6–7; bisexual 15–26; corollas mostly yellow, sometimes red-tinged, 1–2 mm, glabrous or glabrate. |
Phyllaries | lanceolate, hairy or glabrescent. |
(greenish, color often obscured by indument) ovate or lanceolate (margins dark brown), sparsely to densely tomentose. |
Heads | in compact, paniculiform or racemiform arrays (10–)20–30(–40) × (5–)7–15(–20) cm. |
(erect or spreading, some nodding, peduncles 0 or to 30 mm) in racemiform or spiciform arrays 1–6 × 1–2 cm. |
Cypselae | ellipsoid, 0.5–1(–1.2) mm, glabrous, sometimes resinous. |
oblong (ribbed), 1–1.5 mm, glabrous. |
2n | = 18, 36, 40, 54. |
= 18, 36, 72, 90. |
Artemisia vulgaris |
Artemisia furcata |
|
Phenology | Flowering mid summer–late fall. | Flowering late summer. |
Habitat | Sandy or loamy soils, forested areas, coastal strands, roadsides | Talus slopes or tundra |
Elevation | 0–500 m (0–1600 ft) | 500–2700 m (1600–8900 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; WA; AB; BC; NT; NU; YT; Asia
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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.) |
Artemisia furcata extends from the islands of the Bering Sea into southern and interior Alaska, parts of Canada (disjunct in British Columbia and the northernmost Rocky Mountains of Alberta), and on Mt. Rainier in Washington. The array of names applied to A. furcata shows the taxonomic confusion arising from a myriad of morphologic variants that may indicate introgression with other species. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 19, p. 533. | FNA vol. 19, p. 525. |
Parent taxa | Asteraceae > tribe Anthemideae > Artemisia > subg. Artemisia | Asteraceae > tribe Anthemideae > Artemisia > subg. Artemisia |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | A. opulenta, A. vulgaris var. glabra, A. vulgaris var. kamtschatica | A. furcata var. heterophylla, A. hyperborea, A. tacomensis, A. trifurcata |
Name authority | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 2: 848. (1753) | M. Bieberstein: Fl. Taur.-Caucas. 3: 567. (1819) |
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