Artemisia campestris L.

Scarcely odorous biennial or perennial 1–10 dm from a taproot; basal lvs crowded, 2–10 cm (petiole included) × 0.7–4 cm, twice or thrice pinnatifid or ternate, with mostly linear or linear-filiform segments seldom over 2 mm wide, glabrous to sericeous or villous, persistent or deciduous; cauline lvs similar but smaller and less divided, the uppermost often ternate or simple; infl small and spike-like to diffuse and panicle-like; invol glabrous to densely villous-tomentose, 2–4.5 mm; disk-fls sterile, with abortive ovary; achenes subcylindric; 2n=18, 36. Open places, often in sandy soil; circumboreal, extending s. to Fla. and Ariz. July–Sept. A complex sp., composed of many races, the taxonomy still confused. Ssp. caudata (Michx.) H. M. Hall & Clem., a robust, mostly single-stemmed biennial (occasionally short-lived perennial) to 1 m or more tall, occurring on dunes and other very sandy places along the coast and irregularly inland throughout our range, is well marked. Typically it is glabrous or subglabrous. A more hairy, scarcely definable phase of ssp. caudata, which occurs on the n. Great Plains and enters our range along the Great Lakes, has been called A. forwoodii S. Watson, but has no name under A. campestris. All or nearly all the rest of our material of A. campestris belongs to a phase that has been called A. canadensis Michx., or A. campestris var. canadensis (Michx.) S. L. Welsh. It is a ± multicipital perennial, seldom 6 dm, with fewer and often larger heads than ssp. caudata, occurring from Vt. and Minn. northward, often in the mts. In the broad sense the var. canadensis may be considered a part of A. campestris ssp. borealis (Pall.) H. M. Hall & Clem.

Steppes, waste areas, rocky slopes, dune margins; at elevations from 300-3,100 metres in China. Open meadows in N. America; at elevations from sea level to 1,000 metres.

The aerial parts are used for preserving raisins.

Can be grown by seedlings.