800 THE COMPOSITE FAMILT. 



bracts imbricated, usually loosely cottony, with slightly scarious edges. 

 Florets the length of the involucres, yellow or greenish, either all tubular 

 and 5-toothed, or the central ones tubular, 5-tootlied, and male or barren, 

 and the outer ones filiform, or 3-toothed, female, and fertile. Receptacle 

 without scales. Achenes obovate, roimded or narrow at the top, without 

 any pappus. 



A numerous genus, often covering vast tracts of land in eastern Europe 

 and central Asia, and extending over nearly the whole of the northern 

 hemisphere from the Arctic regions to the borders of the tropics. 



Stems spreading, much branched. Segments of the leaves narrow- 

 linear or suijulate. 

 Stem and leaves cottony white. Involucres narrow-ovoid or cylin- 

 drical, cottony 3. Sea A. 



Stem and leaves green or reddish. Involucres ovoid, glabrous . , l.JFieldA. 

 Flowering stems or branches tall and erect. Segments of the leaves 

 flat, broadly linear, or lanceolate. 

 Leaves green above, white underneath, with pointed segments . . 3. Common A, 

 leaves silky, whitish on both sides, with obtuse segments ... 4. Wormwood A. 



The shrubby Southernioood and the Taragon of our gardens are species 

 of Artemisia ; the latter {A. Dracunculus) is one of the very few species in 

 wliich the leaves are not dissected. 



1. Field Artemisia. Artemisia campestris, Linn. 

 (Eng. Bot. t. 338.) 



Stock herbaceous and hard, or shrubby, low, and branched ; the annual 

 branches twiggy, very spreading or procumbent, a foot long or more, nearly 

 glabrous, often turning red. Leaves small, once or twice pinnate, with few 

 very narrow-linear segments, green, at least on the upper side. Flower- 

 heads small, ovoid, in numerous loose spikes or racemes, forming a long 

 leafy panicle. Involucre not cottony, containing 5 or 6 outer female florets, 

 and abovit as many central, male or barren ones. 



In heaths, and dry, sandy, or stony wastes, widely spread over Europe 

 and temperate Asia, extending far into Scandinavia. In Britain, almost 

 peculiar to a small tract of country in the north-west of Suffolk and adjacent 

 portion of Norfolk. Fl. autumn. 



2. Sea Artemisia. Artemisia maritima, Linn. 

 (Eng. Bot. 1706, and A. gaUiea, Eng. Bot. t. 1001.) 



A much branched, decumbent or nearly erect midershrub, more or less 

 covered with a close white cotton. Leaves twice pinnate, with narrow- 

 linear segments, shorter and more compact than in i\\e field A. Flower- 

 heads small, narrow-ovoid or nearly cyhndrical, erect or drooping, each con- 

 taining from 3 to 5 or 6 florets, all tubular and fertile. 



In sandy wastes, generally near the sea, occupying large tracts of country 

 near the Caspian and Black Seas, and extending round the Mediterranean, 

 and along the Atlantic, up to the coasts of Britain, where however it is not 

 very frequent. Fl. autumn. 



3. Common Artemisia. Artemisia vulgaris, Linn. 



(Eng. Bot. t. 978. Mugwort.) 



Stock thick and woody, but short, with erect flowering stems, 2 to 3 feet 

 high. Leaves once or twice deeply pinnatifid, with lanceolate, pointed lobes 

 or segments, coarsely-toothed or lobed, green and glabrous above, very , 

 white underneath. Flower-heads ovoid, with cottony involucres, forming a \ 



