Artemisia vulgaris |
Artemisia stelleriana |
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armoise vulgaire, common mugwort, common wormwood, felon-herb, green-ginger, lobed wormwood, mugwort |
armoise de Steller, beach wormwood, dusty miller, oldwoman, Steller's wormwood |
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Habit | Perennials, (40–)60–190 cm, sometimes faintly aromatic (rhizomes coarse). | Perennials, (15–)20–60(–70) cm (mat-forming), sometimes faintly aromatic (rhizomes creeping, relatively thin). |
Stems | relatively numerous, erect, brownish to reddish brown, simple proximally, branched distally (angularly ribbed), sparsely hairy or glabrous. |
1–3, erect or ascending, white, simple (stout), densely tomentose to floccose. |
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 and cauline (petiolate), silver-gray; blades oblanceolate, (proximalmost) 3–10 × 1–5 cm, pinnatifid (lobes relatively broad, rounded; distal leaves, on flowering stems, smaller), faces densely tomentose. |
Involucres | ovoid to campanulate, 2–3(–4) mm. |
broadly campanulate, 5–8 × 6–7 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 12–16; bisexual 25–30; corollas yellow (narrow or tubular), 3.2–4 mm (unusually large), glabrous or sparsely hairy (style branches prominent, erect, blunt). |
Phyllaries | lanceolate, hairy or glabrescent. |
broadly lanceolate, tomentose. |
Heads | in compact, paniculiform or racemiform arrays (10–)20–30(–40) × (5–)7–15(–20) cm. |
(erect or spreading, peduncles 0 or to 3 mm) in dense, paniculiform, racemiform, or spiciform arrays 8–20 × 2–4 cm. |
Cypselae | ellipsoid, 0.5–1(–1.2) mm, glabrous, sometimes resinous. |
(dark brown) narrowly oblong-linear (slightly flattened, smooth), 3–4 mm, glabrous. |
2n | = 18, 36, 40, 54. |
= 18. |
Artemisia vulgaris |
Artemisia stelleriana |
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Phenology | Flowering mid summer–late fall. | Flowering early spring–fall. |
Habitat | Sandy or loamy soils, forested areas, coastal strands, roadsides | Sandy soils, coastal strand |
Elevation | 0–500 m [0–1600 ft] | 0–200 m [0–700 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; CT; DE; FL; LA; MA; MD; ME; MI; MN; NC; NH; NJ; NY; OH; PA; RI; VA; VT; WA; WI; WV; NB; NF; NS; ON; PE; QC; SPM; n Europe; e Asia (Japan, Kamchatka)
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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 stelleriana is apparently native along the western tip of the Aleutian islands (D. F. Murray, pers. comm.). It is an attractive ornamental and, in parts of its range in the flora area, it appears to have escaped from cultivation and is naturalized in beach dunes and other sandy habitats. (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 | |
Name authority | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 2: 848. (1753) | Besser: Nouv. Mém. Soc. Imp. Naturalistes Moscou 3: 79, plate 5. (1834) |
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