Artemisia vulgaris

Plant Characteristics

Habit		herbaceous
Lifespan:	⌛	perennial

Cultivation

Scientific Names

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vulgaris >

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Artemisia vulgaris (mugwort or common wormwood) is one of several species in the genus Artemisia which have common names that include the word mugwort. This species is also occasionally known as Felon Herb, Chrysanthemum Weed, Wild Wormwood, Old uncle Henry, Sailor's Tobacco, Naughty Man, Old Man or St. John's Plant (not to be confused with St John's wort).

It is native to temperate Europe, Asia and northern Africa, but is also present in North America where it is an invasive weed. It is a very common plant growing on nitrogenous soils, like weedy and uncultivated areas, such as waste places and roadsides.

It is a tall herbaceous perennial plant growing 1–2 m (rarely 2.5 m) tall, with a woody root. The leaves are 5–20 cm long, dark green, pinnate, with dense white tomentose hairs on the underside. The erect stem often has a red-purplish tinge. The rather small flowers (5 mm long) are radially symmetrical with many yellow or dark red petals. The narrow and numerous capitula (flower heads) spread out in racemose panicles. It flowers from July to September.

Read about Artemisia vulgaris in the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture

Artemisia vulgaris, Linn. Mug- Wort. Herb, erect, paniculatelv branched, the sts. often purplish: Lvs. white-cottony beneath but soon green above, 2-pinnately cleft, with lanceolate lobes; upper Lvs. sometimes linear: heads many, oblong, yellowish. Eu. and N. N. Amer., and naturalized in eastern states.—A white-fld. form has been sold as A. lactiflora. It is a beautiful plant with fragrant foliage.—-Mug- wort is grown for the ornament of its foliage. There are variegated-lvd. and golden-lvd. varieties. It was once a domestic remedy. Variable. The above text is from the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture. It may be out of date, but still contains valuable and interesting information which can be incorporated into the remainder of the article. Click on "Collapse" in the header to hide this text.

Related species

There are other species in the genus Artemisia called mugwort:

• Artemisia douglasiana – Douglas' Mugwort
• Artemisia glacialis – Alpine Mugwort
• Artemisia norvegica – Norwegian Mugwort
• Artemisia princeps – Japanese Mugwort ("Yomogi")
• Artemisia stelleriana – Hoary Mugwort
• Artemisia verlotiorum – Chinese Mugwort

Gallery

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References

• Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture, by L. H. Bailey, MacMillan Co., 1963

External links

• w:Artemisia vulgaris. Some of the material on this page may be from Wikipedia, under the Creative Commons license.
• Artemisia vulgaris QR Code (Size 50, 100, 200, 500)