ARTEMISIA 297 



Asterales Aster Order 

 Compositae Composite Family 



Herbs, rarely shrubs or trees; flowers in dense heads, surrounded by a 

 calyx-like involucre, the receptacle naked (i. e. bearing only flowers) or 

 bearing scales among the flowers, flowers perfect, monoecious, polygamous 

 or dioecious, calyx adherent to the ovary, the free limb (pappus) variously 

 modified as scales, spines, bristles, plumes, etc., or entirely wanting, petals 

 5, rarely 0, united, corolla either regular, tubular or bell-shaped, or ir- 

 regular, 2-lipped or flat and ligulate, the marginal flowers of the head 

 often different in form, from the central ones, stamens 5 or 0, usually 

 united by their anthers, pistil 1, compound, ovary inferior, 1 -celled, 1- 

 seeded, style 1, 2-cleft above, stigmas 2, fruit an achene. 



An immense family, the largest of flowering plants, containing about 

 12,000 species. Herbaceous species of this family are very abundant in 

 our flora especially in prairie regions, comprising such well known plants 

 as sunflowers, asters, goldenrods, daisies, thistles, dandelions, etc. Woody 

 plants of this family are rare and are largely confined to warmer climates. 

 Our only shrubby genus is the following. 



Artemisia Linne 1753 Wormwood Sage-Brush 

 (Named for Artemisia, wife of Mausolus) 



Herbs or shrubby plants, bitter and aromatic, often canescent or 

 tomentose; leaves alternate; heads few to many-flowered, pendulous or 

 nodding, in panicles, racemes, or spikes, flowers all tubular, greenish or 

 yellowish, involucre ovoid, oblong or hemispherical, its bracts imbricated 

 in several series, the outer ones shorter, receptacle flat or convex, naked 

 or pubescent, not chaffy, central flowers perfect, sometimes sterile, margin- 

 al flowers usually pistillate and fertile, their corolla 2-3-toothed, in some 

 species the flowers all perfect and fertile; achenes obovoid or oblong, 2- 

 ribbed or striate, with a small rounded summit, and no pappus. 



A genus of about 200 species, natives of the northern hemisphere and 

 southern South America. The following species is the only shrubby one 

 within the state. 



Artemisia frigida W i 1 1 d e n o w 1804 Mountain Sage 



A low tufted perennial, 3-6 dm. high, woody at the base, densely silky- 

 canescent throughout, aromatic; leaves 1-3 cm. long, pinnately parted 

 and 3-5-cleft, the divisions linear, the leaves towards the base of the 



