498 



COMPOSITAE (COMPOSITE FAMILY) 



FIG. 346. Annual 

 Wormwood (Artemisia 

 annua). X \. 



Nearly as rapid a grower as a ragweed, 

 the stem two to five feet tall, smooth, much 

 branched, and leafy. Leaves alternate, 

 two to six inches long, smooth and green on 

 both sides, very sweet-scented, twice or thrice 

 pinnatifid, the lobes short, obtuse, and 

 narrow; lower leaves with short, slender 

 petioles, upper ones sessile and much smaller, 

 but none entire. Heads very small in loose, 

 open panicles, the florets all fertile ; invo- 

 lucre hemispheric, the bracts few, smooth, 

 dry and scarious. (Fig. 346.) 



Means of control 



For small areas hand-pulling before the 

 flowers mature. Or close and repeated 

 cutting for the purpose of preventing re- 

 production. 



WORMWOOD OR ABSINTHE 

 Artemisia Absinthium, L. 



Biennial. Propagates by 



Introduced. 



seeds. 



Time of bloom : July to October. 

 Seed-time: August to November. 

 Range: Newfoundland and New England to western Ontario and 



Ohio. 

 Habitat: Roadsides and waste places. 



An escape from gardens, and usually a waste-land weed; but 

 occasionally it gets into hay, causing cattle to reject their fodder 

 or, if eaten, the consequence is ruined milk and butter, for the 

 extreme bitterness of the plant is proverbial. The herb is used 

 medicinally as a vermifuge, and collectors receive about four cents 

 a pound for its leaves and flowering tops, gathered when in early 

 bloom and dried. 



Stem somewhat shrubby, two to four feet high, the new leaves 

 white with fine, silky hair, the older foliage grayish green, soft, 



