188 



FLOWERS OF THE SEA-COAST 



cultivated plant, to 2200 ft. in Northumberland. In X. and \V. Scot- 

 land it is rare, and it is doubtfully native in Ireland. 



Absinth is to all intents and purposes native only along the sea- 

 coast, as Watson remarks, but it grows inland in a variety of places, 

 having been used for medicinal and other purposes. So it is found 

 on waste ground, and in gardens and similar places where it is 

 evident that man has planted it. 



This is a tall, handsome, 

 branched plant with bi- or tri- 

 pinnatifid leaves, i.e. with lobes 

 divided nearly to the base, and 

 narrow linear - acute segments, 

 with both sides of the rather 

 broadly oval leaves silky and 

 downy, white on both sides. The 

 flowerheads are yellow, and 

 arranged in hemispherical droop- 

 ing heads. Only the outer florets, 

 which are small, produce fruit. 

 The receptacle is softly downy, 

 with the outer phyllaries or whorl 

 of leaflike organs linear and silky, 

 the under ones round and scarious 

 with a semi-transparent border. 



Absinth grows at least 18 in. 

 high, but often 3 ft. The flowers 

 are in bloom in July and Sep- 

 tember. The plant is perennial 

 and propagated by division. 



The flowers in Artemisia 

 Dracunculus are pollinated by 

 the wind, and the same applies to this plant. 



There is no pappus or hair, but the fruit or achene is adapted for 

 dispersal by the wind, the branches being easily swayed to and fro. 

 Absinth is a sand-loving plant growing in sand soil. 

 A fungus, Piiccinia tanaceti, is found on the leaves. 

 A beetle, Mordellistaria pusilla, several moths, Wormwood Moth 

 (Cucullia Absynthii\ Ling Pug (Eupithecia minutata], Bordered Lime 

 Speck (E. succenturiata), Wormwood Pug (E. absynthiata), Botys 

 stictualis, Halonota boenella, and the Ground Lackey (Clisiocampa cas- 

 trensis), Grapholitha wimmerana, G. pipillana, Ringed Carpet (Boarmia 



W. E. Mayes 



ABSINTH {Artemisia Absinthium, L.) 



