Artemisia vulgaris

The plant was originally brought from Asia as an ornamental (Collins 2000). It is sometimes grown for personal use, especially as an alternative medicinal plant. The fresh roots and flowers of Artemisia vulgaris are usually steeped as a tea to help ease the symptoms of cancer, epilepsy, to dispel parasitic worms, as an antiseptic, to aid digestion, to promote sweating, to promote menstruation and/or abortion, to ease congestion of the chest/throat, to improve nervous system function, to ease muscle spasms, as an antidote to opium, and to treat asthma (Duke 1985). Additionally, it is burned to ward off mosquitoes, and is said to cause divinational dreams and clairvoyance when a person sleeps breathing in a pillow filled with the fresh plant. Additionally, it is used as an indicator of pollution because it can grow in soil that is contaminated with heavy metals when more susceptible species cannot (Kovács et. al 1992).

Mugwort prefers full or partial sun and moist to slightly dry conditions. It adapts well to loam, clay-loam, or gravelly soil, and slightly acid to alkaline conditions. This plant can spread aggressively, forming dense colonies that exclude other plants. Range & Habitat

Artemisia vulgaris is a shrubby perennial with segmented leaves that are toothed and dark green with white, pubescent underside. The stem is dark red or sometimes purple. It can grow to nearly 2 meters in height with small yellow flowers that are 5 mm long. A number moths and butterflies feed on the leaves and flowers of A. vulgaris (Zheng et. al 2006).

This introduced perennial plant is 2-4' tall, branching abundantly in the upper half where the flowerheads occur. The stems are largely hairless, angular, and furrowed, although the upper flowering stems are usually pubescent. The lower stems often become reddish or woody in appearance with maturity. The alternate leaves are up to 4" long and 3" across, becoming smaller in size and more narrow as they ascend the stems. The upper surface of these leaves is green and hairless, while their lower surface is white from fine pubescent hairs. The lower and middle leaves usually have 1-2 pairs of deep primary lobes that are often irregularly spaced; these primary lobes are often shallowly cleft by one or more secondary lobes, or they have may a few large teeth. At the base of these leaves, there are often 1 or 2 small eared lobes. The upper leaves have few lobes or none, eventually becoming linear on the flowering stems. The inflorescence is a large panicle of leafy spikes with flowerheads. Each flowerhead is 1/8" across or a little larger, consisting of numerous rayless florets. The florets in the center of the flowerhead are fertile and perfect, while the florets along the outer margin of the flowerhead are fertile and pistillate. The central florets are tubular with 5 recurved lobes, while the marginal florets have only 1 or 2 lobes. All of these florets have a divided style. At the base of the flowerhead are several floral bracts that are finely pubescent. Except for their abundance, these flowerheads are inconspicuous. At the bud stage they are whitish green, becoming dull yellowish green or purplish green with maturity. The blooming period occurs from late summer to early fall, and lasts about 1-2 months. Pollination is by wind. Each floret is replaced by an oblong achene that is without a tuft of hairs. These achenes are small and light enough to be blown about by the wind. The root system is quite rhizomatous, and often produces vegetative colonies of plants.

Mugwort is one of the introduced Artemisia spp. and rather nondescript in appearance. While significantly lobed, its leaves are usually broader than other Artemisia spp. and more tolerant of shade. These leaves are bicolored

Artemisia vulgaris is a shrubby perennial with segmented leaves that are toothed and dark green with a white, pubescent underside. The stem is dark red or sometimes purple. It can grow to nearly 2 meters in height with small yellow flowers that are 5 mm long. Artemisia vulgaris, commonly known as mugwort, is an opportunistic weed that grows at elevations of 1500-3800 m, including pastures, forest margins, valleys, slopes,ditches, roadsides, canyons, and steppes. A number of moths and butterflies feed on the leaves and flowers of A. vulgaris. The plant was originally brought to North America from Asia as an ornamental and for its home-grown medicinal properties, and is now established as an invasive weed (USDA 2008).

Canada

Origin: Exotic

Regularity: Regularly occurring

Currently: Unknown/Undetermined

Confidence: Confident

United States

Origin: Exotic

Regularity: Regularly occurring

Currently: Present

Confidence: Confident

Nile region.

North Africa, Europe, Turkey, eastwards to Caucasus, northern Iraq, Iran, Siberia, introduced into north America.

Artemisia nilagirica fo. lobata Pamp.:
India (Asia)

Note: This information is based on publications available through Tropicos and may not represent the entire distribution. Tropicos does not categorize distributions as native or non-native.

Artemisia indica var. indica :
Burma (Asia)
Bhutan (Asia)
Indonesia (Asia)
India (Asia)
Japan (Asia)
North Korea (Asia)
Nepal (Asia)
Philippines (Asia)
China (Asia)
Thailand (Asia)
South Korea (Asia)
Pakistan (Asia)
Vietnam (Asia)

Note: This information is based on publications available through Tropicos and may not represent the entire distribution. Tropicos does not categorize distributions as native or non-native.

Artemisia vulgaris var. glabra Ledeb.:
Canada (North America)
United States (North America)

Note: This information is based on publications available through Tropicos and may not represent the entire distribution. Tropicos does not categorize distributions as native or non-native.

Artemisia vulgaris L.:
Afghanistan (Asia)
Canada (North America)
Brazil (South America)
Burma (Asia)
Honduras (Mesoamerica)
Greenland (North America)
Japan (Asia)
Guatemala (Mesoamerica)
Costa Rica (Mesoamerica)
Iran (Asia)
United States (North America)
Mongolia (Asia)
Thailand (Asia)
Pakistan (Asia)
Russian Federation (Asia)
Mexico (Mesoamerica)
Vietnam (Asia)
South Africa (Africa & Madagascar)
China (Asia)
Colombia (South America)

Note: This information is based on publications available through Tropicos and may not represent the entire distribution. Tropicos does not categorize distributions as native or non-native.

Artemisia vulgaris has a very large distribution in most of Europe, Asia and Algeria and Tunisia in Africa. It is native to west Asia and Europe, in addition to extensive naturalization throughout North America and some of South America (USDA 2008).

Himalaya, Tibet, China (Sikang).

Distribution: North Africa, Europe eastwards to Caucasia, Turkestan, Siberia, Iran , Afghanistan, Pakistan, N. W. India; introduced and naturalised in N. America.

Nepal?

2300-4600 m

Perennials, (40–)60–190 cm, sometimes faintly aromatic (rhizomes coarse). Stems relatively numerous, erect, brownish to reddish brown, simple proximally, branched distally (angularly ribbed), sparsely hairy or glabrous. Leaves basal (petiolate) and cauline (sessile), uniformly green or bicolor; blades broadly lanceolate, ovate, or linear, (2–)3–10(–12) × 1.8–8 cm (proximal reduced and entire, distal pinnately dissected, lobes to 20 mm wide), faces pubescent or glabrescent (abaxial) or glabrous (adaxial). Heads in compact, paniculiform or racemiform arrays (10–)20–30(–40) × (5–)7–15(–20) cm. Involucres ovoid to campanulate, 2–3(–4) mm. Phyllaries lanceolate, hairy or glabrescent. Florets: pistillate 7–10; bisexual (5–)8–20; corollas yellowish to reddish brown, 1.5–3 mm, glabrous (style branches arched-curved, truncate, ciliate). Cypselae ellipsoid, 0.5–1(–1.2) mm, glabrous, sometimes resinous. 2n = 18, 36, 40, 54.

A perennial, large, basally suffruticose shrub with several, closely growing, erect, simple cinereous or tomentose to glabrous, striate to shallowly grooved, reddish-tinged, (30-) 50-18 (-200) cm tall stems from the upright, 1.5-2 cm thick rootstock. Leaves densely whitish arachnoid hairy beneath, green and sparsely hairy to glabrous above, basally articulate; basal leaves petiolate, lamina broadly ovate, 5-12 (-15) x 3-6 (-8) cm, unipinnatisect into elliptic-ovate, pinnatifid primary segments with acute lobes; middle and upper stem leaves sessile to subsessile, deeply pinnate; uppermost in floral region undivided, lanceolate, entire, acute. Capitula heterogamous, numerous, subsessile, oblong, 3-4 x c. 2 mm, erect to ± nodding, in 10-40 x 5-25 cm, broadly pyramidate panicle with 5-20 cm long, upwardly directed primary and secondary branches. Involucre 4-seriate, phyllaries greyish arachnoid pubescent outside; outermost ovate, 1.5 x c. 1 mm, narrowly scarious on margins, acute; inner elliptic-oblong, c. 2 x 1.75 mm, broadly pale scarious margined, obtuse. Receptacle glabrous, hemispherical. Florets 10-30, yellow with reddish tinge; marginal florets 5-10, female, fertile, with 1.75-2 mm long, bidentate, glandulose corolla tube; disc florets 5-20, bisexual, fertile, with 1.5-2 mm long, narrowly tubular-campanulate 5-toothed glandulose corolla. Cypselas light brown, c. 1 mm long, finely striate.

Artemisia opulenta Pampanini; A. vulgaris var. glabra Ledebour; A. vulgaris var. kamtschatica Besser

A. superba Pamp. in Nuov. Giorn. Bot. Ital. n. s. 36: 473. 1930.

Orchards.

Artemisia vulgaris generally grows at elevations of 1500-3800 m (Shi et. al 2011), including high-elevation pastures, forest margins, valleys, slopes, ditches, roadsides, canyons, forest steppes, subalpine steppes, and abandoned human developments and land (Zheng et. al 2006). Mugwort can grow under harsh conditions; it is known to remove heavy metal pollution from the environment (Kovács et. al 1992).

The flowerheads attract few insects because they are wind-pollinated. While the shrubby Artemisia spp. (Sagebrushes) of the western states are valuable to various kinds of wildlife, birds and mammals appear to make little use of the herbaceous Artemisia spp. that occur in the Midwest and NE states. The slightly aromatic foliage of Mugwort is bitter-tasting and toxic, containing cinerole and thujone. This latter substance is a neurotoxin. While Mugwort has been used in herbal medicine in the past, it can cause a variety of neurological problems and adverse reactions. Photographic Location

Foodplant / sap sucker
Brachycaudus cardui sucks sap of Artemisia vulgaris

Plant / resting place / on
puparium of Calycomyza artemisiae may be found on leaf of Artemisia vulgaris

Foodplant / saprobe
sometimes in rows pycnidium of Camposporium coelomycetous anamorph of Camarosporium aequivocum is saprobic on dead stem of Artemisia vulgaris
Remarks: season: 4-5

Foodplant / gall
Cryptosiphum artemesiae causes gall of curled over, bloated, red or yellow leaf of Artemisia vulgaris

Foodplant / saprobe
immersed perithecium of Diaporthe arctii var. artemisiae is saprobic on dead stem of Artemisia vulgaris
Remarks: season: 3-7

In Great Britain and/or Ireland:
Foodplant / saprobe
scattered, sometimes linearly arranged, covered, brown, pore darker pycnidium of Diplodina coelomycetous anamorph of Diplodina artemisiae is saprobic on dead stem of Artemisia vulgaris
Remarks: season: 5

Foodplant / gall
Eriophyes artemisiae causes gall of leaf of Artemisia vulgaris

Foodplant / parasite
hypophyllous cleistothecium of Erysiphe artemisiae parasitises yellowed leaf of Artemisia vulgaris
Remarks: season: 9-10

Foodplant / saprobe
superficial, scattered on in small groups, thinly subiculate perithecium of Hydropisphaera arenula is saprobic on dead stem of Artemisia vulgaris
Remarks: season: 1-12

Foodplant / saprobe
immersed pseudothecium of Lewia scrophulariae is saprobic on dead stem of Artemisia vulgaris

Plant / resting place / on
puparium of Liriomyza artemisicola may be found on leaf of Artemisia vulgaris
Other: sole host/prey

Foodplant / miner
larva of Liriomyza demeijerei mines leaf of Artemisia vulgaris
Other: sole host/prey

Plant / resting place / within
puparium of Melanagromyza dettmeri may be found in stem of Artemisia vulgaris

Foodplant / saprobe
sessile apothecium of Mollisia coerulans is saprobic on dead stem of Artemisia vulgaris
Remarks: season: 4-6
Other: minor host/prey

Foodplant / saprobe
pseudothecium of Mycosphaerella osborniae is saprobic on dead stem of Artemisia vulgaris
Remarks: season: 8

Foodplant / parasite
hypophyllous, effuse colony of Cercospora dematiaceous anamorph of Mycovellosiella ferruginea parasitises live leaf of Artemisia vulgaris
Remarks: season: 9-10

Plant / associate
Orius niger is associated with Artemisia vulgaris
Other: major host/prey

Foodplant / miner
caterpillar of Ostrinia nubilalis mines live stem of Artemisia vulgaris
Other: major host/prey

Foodplant / internal feeder
larva of Oxyna parietina feeds within stem of Artemisia vulgaris

Foodplant / internal feeder
larva of Paroxyna absinthii feeds within capitulum of Artemisia vulgaris

Foodplant / internal feeder
second generation larva of Paroxyna misella feeds within capitulum of Artemisia vulgaris
Other: major host/prey

Foodplant / saprobe
short-stalked apothecium of Pezizella discreta is saprobic on dead stem of Artemisia vulgaris
Remarks: season: 10-11

Foodplant / saprobe
densely gregarious, abundant pycnidium of Phomopsis coelomycetous anamorph of Phomopsis oblita is saprobic on dead stem of Artemisia vulgaris
Remarks: season: 5

Foodplant / miner
larva of Phytomyza artemisivora mines leaf of Artemisia vulgaris
Other: sole host/prey

Foodplant / saprobe
erumpent apothecium of Pirottaea nigrostriata is saprobic on dead stem of Artemisia vulgaris

Foodplant / sap sucker
nymph of Plagiognathus albipennis sensu S. & L. sucks sap of Artemisia vulgaris
Other: major host/prey

Foodplant / parasite
hypophyllous telium of Puccinia tanaceti parasitises live stem of Artemisia vulgaris
Remarks: season: 7-9
Other: major host/prey

Foodplant / saprobe
erumpent apothecium of Pyrenopeziza artemisiae is saprobic on dead stem of Artemisia vulgaris
Remarks: season: 4-5

Plant / associate
larva of Triglyphus primus is associated with aphid galled Artemisia vulgaris

Foodplant / miner
larva of Trypeta artemisiae mines leaf of Artemisia vulgaris
Remarks: Other: uncertain

Foodplant / miner
larva of Trypeta zoe mines leaf of Artemisia vulgaris

Foodplant / saprobe
apothecium of Urceolella crispula is saprobic on dead stem of Artemisia vulgaris
Remarks: season: 5-11
Other: minor host/prey

Fl. Per.:August-November.

Perennial.

Artemisia vulgaris is included in the monophyletic group called the Artemisia vulgaris complex that contains four species. Based on a phylogenetic analysis, Artemisia stelleriana is the closest relative to A. vulgaris (Sanz et. al 2008). Artemisia verlotiorum and Artemisia mexicana are the next closest relative to A. vulgaris, respectively, and the other members of the complex (Sanz et. al 2008). There are estimated to be 300-400 species of Artemisia. It is in the family Asteraceae.

Barcode of Life Data Systems (BOLDS) Stats
Public Records: 5
Specimens with Barcodes: 12
Species With Barcodes: 1

Canada

Rounded National Status Rank: NNA - Not Applicable

United States

Rounded National Status Rank: NNR - Unranked

Rounded Global Status Rank: GU - Unrankable

Reasons: Artemisia vulgaris var. vulgaris is exotic in North America; the native Eurasian distribution is unknown.