498 COMPOSITAE (COMPOSITE FAMILY) 
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. 
ey WORMWOOD OR ABSINTHE 
Fie. 3 6) ons Annual Artemisia Absinthium, L. 
Wormwood (Artemisia Introduced. Biennial. Propagates by 
2 
annua). Xt. seeds 
Time of bloom: July to October. 
Seed-time: August to November. 
Range: Newfoundland and New England to western Ofitario and 
hio. 
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, 
