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

cut-leaf sagebrush, three-tip sagebrush

Habit Perennials, (40–)60–190 cm, sometimes faintly aromatic (rhizomes coarse). Shrubs, 5–15 or 20–150(–200) cm, aromatic; root-sprouting (caudices with adventitious buds, fibrous rooted).
Stems

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

pale gray, glabrous.

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).

deciduous, gray-green;

blades broadly cuneate, 1.5–4 × 0.5–2 cm, deeply 3-lobed (lobes 1–1.4 mm wide, acute; cauline leaves smaller, mostly 3-lobed).

Involucres

ovoid to campanulate, 2–3(–4) mm.

globose or turbinate, 2–4 × 1.5–3 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).

3–11;

corollas 2–2.5 mm, glandular (style branches included).

Phyllaries

lanceolate, hairy or glabrescent.

broadly lanceolate (margins scarious, obscured by indument), canescent.

Heads

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

in paniculiform or spiciform arrays (5–)8–15(–35) × (0.5–)1–5 cm.

Cypselae

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

(columnar, unequally ribbed) 1.8–2.3 mm, glabrous or resinous.

2n

= 18, 36, 40, 54.

Artemisia vulgaris

Artemisia tripartita

Phenology Flowering mid summer–late fall.
Habitat Sandy or loamy soils, forested areas, coastal strands, roadsides
Elevation 0–500 m (0–1600 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
ID; NV; OR; WA; WY; BC
[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.)

Subspecies 2 (2 in the flora).

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

Key
1. Shrubs 20–150(–200) cm; lobes of leaves linear, to 0.5 mm wide; loamy soils, w of continental divide
subsp. tripartita
1. Shrubs 5–15 cm; lobes of leaves lanceolate, 1–1.5 mm wide; stony grasslands, e Wyoming
subsp. rupicola
Source FNA vol. 19, p. 533. FNA vol. 19, p. 518.
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. rothrockii, A. rupestris, A. scopulorum, A. senjavinensis, A. serrata, A. spiciformis, A. stelleriana, A. suksdorfii, A. tilesii, A. tridentata, A. vulgaris
Subordinate taxa
A. tripartita subsp. rupicola, A. tripartita subsp. tripartita
Synonyms A. opulenta, A. vulgaris var. glabra, A. vulgaris var. kamtschatica A. trifida, A. tridentata subsp. trifida, Seriphidium tripartitum
Name authority Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 2: 848. (1753) Rydberg: Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 1: 432. (1900)
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