Artemisia vulgaris |
Artemisia senjavinensis |
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armoise vulgaire, common mugwort, common wormwood, felon-herb, green-ginger, lobed wormwood, mugwort |
arctic wormwood |
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Habit | Perennials, (40–)60–190 cm, sometimes faintly aromatic (rhizomes coarse). | Perennials, 30–90 cm (densely cespitose), mildly aromatic (caudices branched, woody, taprooted). |
Stems | relatively numerous, erect, brownish to reddish brown, simple proximally, branched distally (angularly ribbed), sparsely hairy or glabrous. |
1–9, erect, gray-green, lanate. |
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). |
mostly basal (in rosettes, cauline 2–5, scattered on flowering stems); blades (basal) broadly oblanceolate, 0.5–0.8 × 0.5–0.7 cm, relatively deeply lobed (lobes 3–5, acute; cauline blades 0.5–1 cm, entire or pinnately lobed, lobes 3–5), faces densely tomentose to sericeous (hairs 1–2 mm). |
Involucres | ovoid to campanulate, 2–3(–4) mm. |
turbinate, 3–4 × 3–5 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 4–5; bisexual 3–4; corollas yellow or tan, 1.5–2, glandular (style branches blunt, not fringed). |
Phyllaries | lanceolate, hairy or glabrescent. |
lanceolate or ovate, hairy. |
Heads | in compact, paniculiform or racemiform arrays (10–)20–30(–40) × (5–)7–15(–20) cm. |
in corymbiform arrays 0.5–2.5 × 0.5–2.5 cm (subtended by white-sericeous bracts). |
Cypselae | ellipsoid, 0.5–1(–1.2) mm, glabrous, sometimes resinous. |
(brown) linear-oblong, ca. 2 mm, (apices flat), glabrous. |
2n | = 18, 36, 40, 54. |
= 36, 54. |
Artemisia vulgaris |
Artemisia senjavinensis |
|
Phenology | Flowering mid summer–late fall. | Flowering mid–late summer. |
Habitat | Sandy or loamy soils, forested areas, coastal strands, roadsides | Open calcareous gravelly slopes in tundra or heath, sandy slopes above high tide |
Elevation | 0–500 m (0–1600 ft) | 0–600 m (0–2000 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; e Asia (Russian Far East, Chukotka) |
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 senjavinensis is known only from western Alaska (Seward Peninsula) and the Chukchi Peninsula of the Russian Far East. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 19, p. 533. | FNA vol. 19, p. 532. |
Parent taxa | ||
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | A. opulenta, A. vulgaris var. glabra, A. vulgaris var. kamtschatica | Ajania senjavinensis, A. androsacea |
Name authority | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 2: 848. (1753) | Besser: Nouv. Mém. Soc. Imp. Naturalistes Moscou 3: 35. (1834) |
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