Herbs or undershrubs, usually strongly aromatic. Leaves alternate, entire, incised or
1 - 3-pinnatisect. Heads homogamous or heterogamous, solitary or fascicled, racemose or
panicled, never corymbose, ovoid or broadly campanulate, small. Involucral bracts few-seriate with scarious margins; the outer shorter. Receptacle flat, convex or hemispheric.
naked or pubescent to long hairy. Outer florets female, fertile, 1-seriate; corolla slender.
tubular, shortly 2 - 3-fid. Disc florets hermaphrodite, fertile or sterile; corolla regular.
tubular; the limb slightly enlarged or campanulate, 5-fid. Anther bases oblong, entire.
Style arms of hermaphrodite florets truncate, usually penicillate tips often connate in the
sterile florets. Achenes ellipsoid, oblong, subobovoid, very small, faintly striate, glabrous
or pilose. Pappus absent.
North Temperate regions, S. Africa and S. America; most common on arid soils of
W. United States and Russian Steppes; ca 400 species, ca 32 in India.
Literature.
LING, Y.R. (1987). On the Status of Artemisia dubia Wallich ex Bess. and A. myriantha
Wallich ex Bess
(Compositae) Kew Bull. 42(2): 443 - 448. PAMPANINI, R. (1926, 1927, 1929 & 1932) Material per 10 studio delle Artemisie Asiatiche. Nuovo Giorn. Bot. Ital. n.s. 33: 447 - 469. 1926; 34; 632 - 713.
1927; 36: 375 - 388.
1929; 39: 19 - 35. 1932. SRINATH, K.V. & M.N. RAMASWAMI (1964). Occurrence of
morphological types in Artemisia pallens Wall. Curr. Sci. 33: 346 - 347.
KEY TO THE SPECIES
| b. Heads heterogamous; receptacle various; florets all fertile or only the outer female fertile and the disc
with sterile florets
|
2
|
| b. Receptacle hairy or obscurely pubescent
|
28
|
| 3a. Outer florets female, fertile; disc florets sterile
|
4
|
| b. Outer female florets and disc florets all fertile
|
9
|
| 5a. Heads secund; cauline leaves with stipule like appendages at the base
|
16.
Artemisia japonica
|
| b. Heads not secund; cauline leaves without the appendages at the base
|
6
|
| b. Leaves 2 - 3-pinnatisect or pinnatifid, only upper ones entire
|
7
|
| b. Stems pale green, sometimes purple; heads solitary and distant or in cluster of 2-3-short forming
panicled racemes
|
9.
Artemisia dubia
|
| b. Heads not secund; involucral bracts hairy; achenes narrowly obconic
|
27.
Artemisia stricta
|
| 9a. Annual or biennial herbs
|
10
|
| 10a. Small herbs, ca 15-30 cm high; involucral bracts pubescent; heads rather large
|
4.
Artemisia biennis
|
| b. Tall herbs, up to 1.2 m high; involucral bracts glabrous; heads small
|
11
|
| 11a. Heads hemispheric, pedicelled, secund, drooping in axillary leafy racemes
|
7.
Artemisia caruifolia
|
| 12a. Heads usually small, 1.25-4 mm in diam., often in spreading panicled spikes or racemes
|
13
|
| b. Heads rather large 4-8 mm in diam. in simple, sparingly branched, erect axillary and terminal
racemes
|
27
|
| 13a. Leaves simple, lobed or serrate
|
14
|
| b. Leaves pinnatifid, pinnatisect of pinnati-partite
|
15
|
| 14a. Hoary pubescent or tomentose herbs; leaves ovate-elliptic, lobed; heads ovoid
|
21.
Artemisia nilagirica
|
| b. Glabrous herba; loaves lanceolate, acuminate, serrate; heads globose-campanulate
|
2.
Artemisia amygdalina
|
| b. Pubescent or tomentose or glabrescent herbs
|
16
|
| 16a. Rhizomatous perennial herbs
|
17
|
| b. Rhizomatous perennial herbs
|
17
|
| 17a. Brown purple or purple herbs
|
18
|
| b. Herbs more or less green
|
20
|
| 18a. Cauline leaves with auricled lobes; heads often clustered at the terminal ends embedded in brown ferruginous wool
|
5.
Artemisia campbellii
|
| b. Cauline leaves without auricled bases; heads panicled, not embeded in wool
|
19
|
| 19a. Leaves grey white to woolly tomentose beneath: heads subglobose or campanulate; corolla
tube of hermaphrodite florets broadly attenuate
|
23.
Artemisia roxburghiana
|
| b. Leaves tomenlose beneath; heads hemispheric; Corolla tube of hermaphrodite florets narrowly
attenuate
|
28.
Artemisia strongylocephala
|
| b. Heads campanulate or subglobose; involucral bracts glabrous or tomentose at maturity
|
15.
Artemisia indica
|
| 21a. Leaf segments pectinately pinnatifid; rachis often pectinately winged; heads hemispheric,
subsecund
|
13.
Artemisia gmelinii
|
| b. Leaf segments not pectinately pinnati-fid; rachis simple winged; heads often subglose or campanute,
not sub secund
|
22
|
| b. Herbs with puberulous to pubescent stems; leaves 2-pinnatisect or 2-pinnatifid or 2-pinnatipartite
|
23
|
| 23a. Stems slender; leaves 2-pinnatipartite, segments incised
|
14.
Artemisia incisa
|
| b. Stems stout; leaves 3-2 -1 -pinnatisect; segments not incised
|
24
|
| b. Leaves 2-1-pinnatisect, not white punctate above
|
25
|
| b. Panicles sparsely to densely leafy; heads globose or ovoid-campanulate or ovoid
|
26
|
| 27a. Leaves white tomentose beneath, segments spreading; corolla not densely villous
|
32.
Artemisia wallichiana
|
| b. Leaves subsilky villous on both surfaces, segments closeset, short; corolla densely villous
|
25.
Artemisia stracheyi
|
| 28a. Receptacle obscurely pubescent; heads ca 4 mm in diam., subglobose; corolla of hermaphrodite
florets almost cupular
|
22.
Artemisia persica
|
| b. Receptacle covered with long hairs; heads 6-12 mm in diam., hemispheric; corolla of hermaphrodite
florets not cupular
|
29
|
| 29a. Silky hoary or tomentose perennial herbs, heads 6-8 mm in diam.
|
30
|
| b. Hoary pubescent or tomentose annual or biennial herbs; heads 6-12 mm in diam.
|
31
|
| 30a. Tall herbs; heads numerous, somewhat crowded; achenes elliptic-oblong or somewhat obovoid
|
1.
Artemisia absinthium
|
| b. Dwarf herbs; heads few, solitary or spicate; achenes cylindric, obscurely ribbed, somewhat auricled
at the tips
|
19.
Artemisia minor
|
| 31a. Usually tall herbs, simple or paniculately branched above; anthers aristate
|
26.
Artemisia sieversiana
|
| b. Dwarf herbs; branches many ascending from the root, spreading in a circular way; anthers acuminate
|
17.
Artemisia macrocephala
|
