Artemisia biennis Willd., Phytogr. 11, n. 39. 1794; Hook.f., Fl. Brit. India 3: 324. 1881.

Herbs, annual, erect, glabrous to sparsely pilose, 25 - 60 cm high; stems pale green, rather succulent, sometimes many from base. Lower leaves 5 - 8 cm long, 2-pinnatipartite petioled; segments pinnatifid or toothed; cauline leaves linear-oblong; 2 - 6 cm long subsessile. Heads yellow or purplish green, many flowered, suberect in short leafy panicled racemes broadly cupular, 4 mm in diam. Outer involucral bracts dull green with narrow brown scarious margins, broadly ovate to obovate, 2.5 - 3.2 x 2 mm, more or less glabrous; inner involucral bracts obovate with narrow brown scarious apices, 3 x 2 mm. Receptacle broad, convex, naked. Outer florets female, fertile 1.5 mm long, corolla oblong, slightly glandular. Disc florets hermaphrodite, fertile, tubular, 3 mm long, slightly glandular, limb 5-fid. Achenes brown, oblong to oblanceolate, 1.2 - 1.5 x 1 mm, obscurely angled.

Fl. & Fr. July - Sept.

Distrib. India: W. and E. Himalayas, along shady bank of streams, in waste lands and on grassy hill slopes, between 4000-5000 m. Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Sikkim.

Tibet and N. China.