SYNGENESIA— POLYG.-8UPEKF. Artemisia. 400 



Styles very deeply cloven. Recept. convex, clothed with fine 

 upright hairs. 



Sometimes the leaves which accompany the flowers are much 

 larger and broader than usual, and most of them undivided. 

 Such a variety has been sent me for J. cccrulescens, from Gam- 

 lingay, near Cambridge ; but it has no relationship to that spe- 

 cies. 



Common Wormwood is a powerful bitter, much extolled by Haller, 

 on various authorities, as a stomachic, and recommended by 

 him for keeping off fits of the gout, for which it is said to have 

 served the Emperor Charles the Fifth. The plant is thought to 

 drive awav insects from clothes and furniture, for which purpose 

 it is often laid into drawers and chests in the country. The ve- 

 getable alkali of the shops has been usually procured from this 

 herb, and called Salt of Wormwood, though retaining none of 

 its peculiar qualities. 



5. A. vulgaris. Mugwort. 



Leaves pinnatifid, flat, cut; downy beneath. Clusters sim- 

 ple. Flowers ovate. Receptacle naked. 



A. vulgaris. Linn. Sp. Pl.WSS. H'illd. v. 3. \8A5. Fl.Br.865. 



Engl. Bot. V. 14. t. 978. H'oodv. t.l2\. Hook. Scot. 240. Bull. 



Fr. t. 350. Rail Syn. 1 90. Bauh. Hist. v. 3. p. 1 . 1 84./. Dalcch. 



Flist. 950./. 

 A. n. 130. Hall. Hist. v. 1.56. 

 Artemisia. Tra^. Hist. 344. /. Brunf. Herb. v. 2. 83, by mistake 



4\,f. Matth. Valgr. v. 2. 202. f. Camer. Epit. 595./. 

 A. mater herbarum. Ger. Em. 1 103./. 

 A. latifolia. Fuclis. Hist. 44./. 

 Mugwort. Petiv. H. Brit. t. 20. f. 5. 



In waste ground, about hedges, and in the rough borders of fields, 

 common. 



Perennial. August. 



Root woody. Stems 3 or 4 feet high, erect, branched, panicled, 

 leafy, furrowed, smooth, often reddish. Leorues alternate, deeply 

 pinnatifid and cut, somewhat lyrate ; dark green and smooth 

 above ; downy and snow-white underneath ; the lower ones 

 stalked j u])per sessile. Clusters upright, leafy, simple. Fl. 

 more or less inclining, or drooping, partly sessile, variously dis- 

 posed, ovate, woolly. Florets reddish or brown ; in the disk not 

 numerous; in the margin 5, very slender. Recept. naked, 

 small. 



This species, weakly aromatic and bitterish, has, from remote an- 

 tiquity, been esteemed good in certain obstructions, for which 

 Ray says it is much used. Whatever may be its supposed effi- 

 cacy, the sensible qualities are but slight, and its virtues are 

 rather traditionary than ccrtahi. The cottony covering of the 



