^m?imi*i      The  Mother  Plant  of  Wormseed.  215 
each  stem  may  be  compared  with  a  little  broom.  The  pinnate  leaves 
are  thickish,  of  a  greyish  green  hue,  although  they  are  beset  with  only 
a  few  scattered  soft  hairs.  In  the  youngest  state,  the  leaves  of  short 
shoots  are  densely  covered  with  grey  felted  hairs,  whereas  the  fully- 
developed  leaves,  as  well  as  the  involucres  and  florets,  are  entirely 
naked.  This  is  one  of  the  most  prominent  characters  of  the  plant 
under  notice,  and,  as  it  is  well  known,  of  commercial  wormseed. 
The  author  had  not  before  him  fully  developed  florets ;  but  in  these 
there  occurs  the  strange  fact  that  the  style  is  club-shaped,  much 
shorter  than  the  stamina,  and  enclosed  in  a  very  thin  transparent  mem- 
brane, which  disappears  when  the  style  begins  to  be  separated  into 
two  stigmas.  Willkomm  has  likewise  met  with  a  similar  membrane 
in  Artemisia  Barrelieri. 
The  plant  of  Turkestan  is  very  closely  allied  to  some  other  Artemi- 
sia?, especially  to  A.  Lercheana,  Stechm.,  A.  pauciflora,  Stechm., — 
both  figured  in  Gmelin's  "  Flora  Sibirica,"  tab.  50  and  52,  the  former 
also  much  better  in  Ledebour's  "Icones  Florae  Rossicse,"  tab.  488. 
Another  species  resembling  wormseed  plant  is  A.  monogyna,  Kit. ;  but 
all  these  are  covered  with  a  dense  felt  of  whitish  hairs.  As  to  the 
florets  of  the  mother  plant  of  wormseed,  Willkomm  thinks  they  can 
scarcely  be  distinguished  from  those  of  A.  Barrelieri,  Bess.,  which  he 
had  observed  in  Spain.  But  in  external  appearance  the  two  last- 
named  species  are  widely  different. 
Berg,  in  his  "  Darstellung  und  Beschreibung  der  officinellen  Ge- 
wachse,"  etc.,  1863,  plate  xxix.  c,  having  pointed  out  that  the  plant 
yielding  wormseed  was  not  known,  had  bestowed  upon  it  the  anticipa- 
tory name  of  A.  Cina.  Willkomm  now  maintains  this  name,  but  then 
Berg's  name  should  be  discarded,  and  the  plant  be  termed  Artemisia 
Cina,  Willk.  (Berg.)    Its  full  diagnosis  is  as  follows  : — 
"  Suffruticosa,  caudice  crasso  tortuoso,  caulibus  multis  basi  lignosis, 
3-5  decim.  longis,  basi  foliatis,  inde  a  medio  ramulo  spermultos  florife- 
ros  erectopatulos  paniculam  scopaeformem  formantes  edentibus;  foliis 
basilaribus  inferioribusque  longe  petiolatis  bipinnatisectis  arachnoideo- 
villosulis,  mediis  pinnatisectis  floralibusque  integris  glaberrimis,  seg- 
ments omnium  linearibus  obtusis  cartilagineo-mucronulatis,  crassius- 
culis,  margine  revolutis  et  nervo  medio  crasso  instructis ;  foliis  basil- 
aribus inferioribusque  turiones  foliosos  incano-tomentosos,  superioribus 
foiiorum  fasciculos  glabros  ex  axilla  edentibus ;  calathiis  numerosis 
secus  ramulos  laxe  spicato-glomeratis  vel  simpliciter  spicatis,  sessilibus 
