Introduced. Perennial. Propagates by seeds. Time of bloom: July to October. Seed-time: August to November. Range: Nova Scotia to Ontario and Michigan, southward to New Jersey and Tennessee. Habitat: Roadsides and waste places; along streams and ditches.

Also called Wormwood, and kept on sale under that name in drug stores. Stem one to three feet tall, smooth or nearly so except the growing branches, which are finely white-woolly. Leaves alternate, one to four inches long, deeply pinnatifid into narrow oblong or spatulate segments, which are again cut and toothed, the lower ones usually petioled, the upper ones sessile, often with lobes entire; all are smooth and dark green above but covered with fine, white wool beneath. The numerous heads are in spiked panicles, held nearly erect; each head is about one-sixth of an inch broad and only the central florets are fertile; bracts of the involucre dry and scarious. Achenes very small, obovoid, without pappus. (Fig. 345.)

Fig. 345. - Common Mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris). X1/4.

Means Of Control

Mugwort has to be grubbed out; or, if the ground is sufficiently soft to relax its hold on the perennial roots, the plants may be hand-pulled. On cultivated ground the weed is destroyed by the required tillage.