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

Rothrock sagebrush, sticky sagebrush, timberline sagebrush

Habit Perennials, (40–)60–190 cm, sometimes faintly aromatic (rhizomes coarse). Shrubs, 20–50 cm (sticky-resinous and dark green throughout), pungently aromatic; not root-sprouting (trunks relatively narrow).
Stems

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

white (becoming dark gray with age), canescent (bark exfoliating).

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, light or dark gray-green;

blades long-cuneate to lanceolate, (0.4–)1–1.5(–2) × 0.2–0.4 cm, 3-lobed (lobes to 1/3 blade lengths, rounded, margins sometimes entire, somewhat wavy), faces densely to sparsely canescent, gland-dotted, sticky-resinous.

Involucres

ovoid to campanulate, 2–3(–4) mm.

broadly ovoid, 3–5 × 4–6 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).

12–20;

corollas 2.5–3.5 mm.

Phyllaries

lanceolate, hairy or glabrescent.

(usually gray-green) ovate, densely or sparsely canescent.

Heads

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

(erect, sessile or pedunculate) in paniculiform arrays, 5–15 × 1–2(–3) cm.

Cypselae

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

0.8–2 mm, (smooth), resinous.

2n

= 18, 36, 40, 54.

= 36, 54, 72.

Artemisia vulgaris

Artemisia rothrockii

Phenology Flowering mid summer–late fall. Flowering mid summer–all.
Habitat Sandy or loamy soils, forested areas, coastal strands, roadsides Clay soils of mountain meadows
Elevation 0–500 m (0–1600 ft) 2500–3100 m (8200–10200 ft)
Distribution
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]
from FNA
CA
[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.)

Artemisia rothrockii is known only from the central and southern Sierra Nevada and the White Mountains of California. In the Rocky Mountains, A. spiciformis has been confused with A. rothrockii. Distinctive chemistry and anatomical structure of the leaves support the distinctness of A. rothrockii (L. M. Shultz 1986b). Intermediate characteristics suggest a hybrid origin from races of A. cana and A. tridentata.

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

Source FNA vol. 19, p. 533. FNA vol. 19, p. 515.
Parent taxa Asteraceae > tribe Anthemideae > Artemisia > subg. Artemisia Asteraceae > tribe Anthemideae > Artemisia > subg. Tridentatae
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. 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
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. rupestris, A. scopulorum, A. senjavinensis, A. serrata, A. spiciformis, A. stelleriana, A. suksdorfii, A. tilesii, A. tridentata, A. tripartita, A. vulgaris
Synonyms A. opulenta, A. vulgaris var. glabra, A. vulgaris var. kamtschatica A. tridentata subsp. rothrockii, Seriphidium rothrockii
Name authority Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 2: 848. (1753) A. Gray: in W. H. Brewer et al., Bot. California 1: 618. (1876)
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