promreee 4 
CLASS XIX. ORDER I. | ARTEMISIA, 
1069 
erect, furrowed. Zeaves bi- or tri-pinnatifid, the segments broad, 
linear lanceolate, greener on the upper than the under side, the lower 
ones with long channeled footstalks, dilated at the base, the upper 
ones sessile, or nearly so, the floral ones undivided, sessile. Heads 
sub-globose, drooping. Jnvoluere silky, its scales linear, obtuse, with 
a jagged membranous margin. Florets numerous, pale yellow or 
buff, short, tubular, the outer ones ligulate, those of the disk five-cleft. 
Styles deeply cloven. Receptacle convex, clothed with fine erect 
hairs. 
Habitat—Waste places, especially about villages. 
Perennial; flowering in August. 
This species has long been known as a tonic, anti-spasmodic, and 
anthelminitic, and has been used with advantage in intermittent 
fevers, gout, scurvy, &c.; it is not now much regarded, though as a 
stomachic medicine few plants are better. The whole plant has a 
strong pungent smell, a rather disagreeable intense bitter taste. Its 
smell is owing to a volatile oil with which it abounds. When 
burned, its ashes afford a large proportion of alkaline salt, and the 
shops were supplied from this source, and though now procured 
from many other plants, it is still often sold under the name of Salt 
of Wormwood. The seeds are used by rectifiers of British Spirits to 
give them a flavour. The odour of the plant is supposed to be very . 
objectionable to various kinds of insects, and for the purpose of pre- 
venting their intrusion, it is placed in drawers amongst clothes, 
in chests, &e. 
4, A. vulga'ris, Linn. (Fig. 1266.) Mugwort. Stem erect, panicu- 
lated ; leaves pinnatifid, white and downy beneath, the segments 
lanceolate, acuminate, entire, or toothed, the floral leaves lanceolate, 
acuminate, entire; heads ovate, or oblong, downy ; involucre scales 
lanceolate ; receptacle naked. 
English Botany, t. 978.—English Flora, vol. ili. p. 410.—Hooker, 
British Flora, ed. 4 vol. i. p. 801.—Lindley, Synopsis, p. 149. 
Root woody, with numerous branched fibres. Stems several, erect, 
branched and paniculated above, furrowed, often reddish, smooth or 
downy, three or four feet high. Leaves numerous, alternate, deeply 
cut in a pinnatifid manner, the segments lanceolate, entire or toothed, 
dark green, and smooth above, white, with close woolly down beneath, 
the lower ones petiolated, the upper sessile, the floral leaves lanceo- 
late, entire. Heads ovate oblong, woolly, very numerous, in crowded 
racemose clusters on the top of the stem and branches. Involucre of 
pale membranous lanceolate scales. lorets few, brownish, tubular, 
slender, the marginal ones ligulate, those of the disk five-cleft. 
Receptacle naked. 
Habitat.—Hedges and waste places ; common. 
Perennial ; flowering in August. 
