214  The  Mother  Plant  of  Wormseed.        \  AVa0™; 
question  appear  to  form  a  connecting  link  between  the  barks  of  cin- 
chona and  other  botanically  closely  allied  genera ;  while  one  bark  re- 
resembles  in  structure  true  cinchona  without  containing  any  cinchona 
alkaloid,  the  other  bark  contains  two  of  these  alkaloids  but  has  a 
structure  different  from  cinchona. 
THE  MOTHER  PLANT  OF  WORMSEED. 
Abstracted  from  a  Paper  by  Professor  Willkomm. 
By  Professor  Fluckiger. 
Wormseed  is  exclusively  brought  from  Central  Asia,  and  consists 
of  flower-buds  of  a  species  of  Artemisia,  which  is  now  for  the  first  time 
described*  by  Willkomm,  Professor  of  Botany  in  the  University  of 
Dorpat.  The  plant  was  brought  there  by  Professor  Petzholdt,  who 
had  spent  the  summer  and  spring  of  the  last  year  in  Turkestan.  He 
had  the  plant  collected  there  by  the  people  gathering  wormseed  near 
the  small  town  of  Turkestan,  about  44°  north  lat.  and  68°  east  long.> 
that  is  to  say,  between  the  Aral  Sea  and  the  Lake  Balkash ;  the  area 
of  the  plant  probably  extends  much  more  eastward.  Willkomm  gives 
a  full  description  and  diagnosis  of  the  Artemisia  under  examination 
of  which  we  will  endeavor  to  abstract  the  most  important  parts. 
The  genus  Artemisia  includes  a  large  number  of  species,  divided  by 
systematic  botanists  into  several  tribes.  Seriphidium  is  the  name  of 
one  of  these  tribes ;  the  species  which  belong  to  it  are  provided  with 
hermaphrodite,  homogamous  florets.  They  are  inserted  on  a  rather 
stalk-like  receptacle,  not  a  disk,  each  floret  being  accompanied  by  a 
small  bract.  The  apex  of  the  short  receptacle,  however,  is  devoid 
both  of  florets  and  bracts.  The  small  capitula  or  heads  of  the  Seri- 
phidia  exhibit  only  a  few  florets,  and  are  arranged  so  as  to  form  pan- 
iculated  spikes.  The  florets  and  the  bracts,  as  well  as  the  involucral 
scales,  show  numerous  glands  or  papillae,  containing  an  aromatic 
resinoid  substance.  The  bifurcation  of  the  style  becomes  obvious 
only  when  the  floret  is  fully  developed. 
The  plant  from  which  wormseed  is  collected  is  strongly  shrubby,  its 
numerous  yellowish  stems  and  branches  being  woody  in  their  lower 
parts,  and  attaining  a  height  of  from  1  to  1J  feet.  The  branches  are 
densely  tufted ;  the  whole  plant,  indeed,  forms  a  broom,  or  at  least 
*  In  the  Botanische  Zeitung  of  H.  von  Mohl  and  A.  de  Bary,  1872,  March 
1st,  p.  130. 
