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Wormwood (Artemisia absinthium)

Wormwood Synonyms: Artemisia absinthium var. absinthium; Artemisia absinthium var. insipida

Common Names: Artemisia, absinth sage, absinth wormwood, absinth sagewort, common sagewort, absinthe mugwort, absintium

Description: Introduced in the early 19th century to be cultivated for medicinal and social uses.

Habit: Herbaceous, perennial plant that ca grow up to 5 feet tall.

Leaves: Alternate, gray-green in color, 1-4 inches long and give off a strong sage-like scent when crushed. Covered in fine, silky white hairs. Deeply pinnately divided with round lobes/edges.

Stems: Somewhat woody and branching.

Flowers: Yellowish in color, 1/8 inch wide on dangling stalks; inflorescence large, leafy clusters of drooping heads; blooms July through September.

Fruit and seeds: Nearly cylindrical, dry seed narrow at the base and rounded at the top.

Habitat: Native to Eurasia, the Middle East and North Africa. Found in hardwood and coniferous forests, prairies, meadows, grasslands, fields, and disturbed areas.

Reproduction: By seed or vegetatively by rhizomes.

Similar species: Resembles other species of Sagebrush (Artemisia spp.).

Monitoring and rapid response: Dig up individual plants. For large infestations, mow as close to the ground as possible. Cover infestation with black landscape fabric in early spring when leaves emerge. Prescribed fire may also be effecting as well as picloram, dicamba, 2,4-D and glyphosate herbicides.

Credits: The information provided in this factsheet was gathered from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and the Bugwood Wiki.

Individual species images that appear with a number in a black box are courtesy of the Bugwood.org network (http://www.invasive.org).Individual photo author credits may not be included due to the small display size of the images and subsequent difficulty of reading the provided text. All other images appear courtesy of Google (http://images.google.com).


Common Name:

Wormwood

Scientific Name:

Artemisia absinthium

Family:

Asteraceae
(Aster)

Duration:

Perennial

Habit:

Herbs

USDA Symbol:

ARAB3