Artemisia.] XXXIX. compositae. 3.33 



* ARTEMISIA, Linn. 



Heads small, discoid ; involueral bracts in several series, imbricating, margins 

 scarious. Eeceptacle narrow, flat or convex, naked, pilose, or fimbriate. Florets 

 tubular, few ; marginal female, 1-seriate ; corolla 3-toothed, rarely 0. Disk-florets 

 hermaphrodite; corolla ')-toothed ; anthers obtuse at the base. Achenes obovoid. 

 Disk minute. Pappus 0. Herbs, sometimes suffruticose, often bitter and aromatic. 

 Leaves alternate, much divided. Heads racemose or paniculate. 



*A. Absinthium, L., Sp. PI. 848. Silky-pubescent in all its parts. Stems 

 numerous, erect, 1ft. -2ft. high, often suffruticose, grooved. Leaves lin.-3in. long, 

 2-3-pinnatifid or pinnatipartite ; segments numerous, gland-dotted, oblong or lanceo- 

 late. Heads nodding or drooping, hemispheric in erect leafy panicles ; involucres 

 broadly campanulate, silky. Eeceptacle pilose. Female corollas dilated below. 



NOBTH and SOUTH Islands: plentifully naturalised in waste places and on sheep-runs. 

 Sea-level to fully 3,000ft. Wormwood. Feb. to April. Europe. 



20. ERECHTITES, Eafin. 



Involucre of 1 series of nearly equal linear bracts, usually with a few 

 smaller at the hase, herbaceous, appressed. Receptacle naked. Rays 0. 

 Florets all narrow, tuhular; female always filiform, extremely slender, in 2—3 

 marginal rows, 3— 4-toothed. Disk-florets about half as many as the female, 

 4— 5-toothed, hermaphrodite ; anthers obtuse at the base ; style-arms truncate. 

 Achenes striate or angular, glabrous or pubescent, sometimes contracted imme- 

 diately beneath the disk-like apex. Erect annual or perennial glabrous or 

 cottony herbs, with alternate simple or pinnatifid leaves and corymbose cylindric 

 heads. 



Species, about 17, of which 4 are endemic in Australia and 3 in New Zealand, 4 others are 

 common to both countries, the remainder being distributed through North and South America and 

 Java. The ancient name of a species of groundsel. 



Leaves glabrous, membranous, toothed or pinnatifid. Involueral bracts 8-10 1. E. prenanthoides. 



Involueral tracts 10-14. 



Leaves lobed toothed or pinnatifid, cottony. Achenes short, hispidulous . . 2. E. arguta. 



Scabrid. Leaves pinnatifid. Achene linear, slender, pubescent . . .. S. E. scaberula. 



Leaves mostly linear, entire, cottony. Achene hispid . . . . . . i. E. guadridentata. 



Glabrous or glabrate. Leaves erect ; lower on long petioles, obtuse ; upper 



sessile, acute. Achenes pubescent . . . . . . . . .. 5. E, dwersifoUa. 



Glabrous. Leaves spreading, unequally pinnatifid. Achenes glabrous . . 6. E. glabrescens. 



1. E. prenanthoides, DC, Prod. vi. 396. Annual or rarely biennial, 

 erect, 1ft.— 4ft. high, simple or branched, glabrous or slightly hairy. Leaves 

 2iii.— 6in. long, linear-oblong or lanceolate, lower petioled, upper sessile, with 

 toothed auricles, regularly or irregularly denticulate or toothed. Heads 

 numerous, in lax terminal corymbs, glabrous ; pedicels slender, with minute 

 subulate bracts ; involucres narrow-cylindric ; bracts 8—10, linear-lanceolate, 

 with scarious margins. Florets about 18—20; female in 2 rows, filiform, 

 4-toothed. Disk-florets 6-7, 4-lobed. Achenes angular, truncate above, 

 glabrate or pubescent. Pappus-hairs rigid. — Hook, f., Fl. N.Z. i. 141 ; 

 Handbk. 156 ; Beuth., Fl. Austr. iii. 658. E. sonchoides, DC, Prod. vi. 296. 



