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NOMENCLATURE
Artemisia : see A. vulgaris.
campestris : of the pasture, from flat land.
Southernwood : see A. abrotanum.
PREVIOUS NAMES : A. forwoodii (Wats). A. camporum (Rydb). A. bourgeauana (Rydb).
BOTANICAL DESCRIPTION
BSBI Picture Link to Artemisia campestris
TYPE : perennial scentless plant with creeping woody stock producing tufts of short non-flowering shoots & decumbent then ascending >or< glabrous flowering shoots 20-60cm, >or< woody below, paniculately branched above. Ch.
LEAVES : basal & lower stem leaves 2-3 x pinnate, stalked, auricled. Upper stem leaves less divided & shorter stalked upwards, the uppermost linear, entire, sessile, ultimate segments long linear, 1mm wide, mucronulate, at first silky hairy on both sides, later glabrous.
FLOWERS : heads 3-4mm diam., broadly ovoid >or< erect, numerous in a narrow elongated racemose panicle. Bracts ovate to oblong, green or red, glabrous, with scarious margins. Receptacle glabrous. Flowers yellow or red the marginal female, fertile, the central hermaphrodite but mostly sterile. Wind pollinated. Fl. 8-9.
FRUIT : achenes glabrous. 2n=18, 36.
HABITAT : breckland heaths, sand dunes.
DISTRIBUTION : S.W. Norfolk, E. Cambridge. Naturalised in one locality in S. Wales Casual elsewhere. Casual near Belfast.
BSBI Distribution Map for Artemisia campestris (UK)
SUBSPECIES : Subsp. borealis. Subsp. maritima.
HISTORICAL MEDICINAL USES
Linnaeus : "Infusion in pleurisy."
Dr. John Hill : "It disposes a person to sleep."
INFO LINKS FOR Artemisia campestris
Wikipedia (UK)
Plants For a Future (UK)
Nature Gate (FIN)
M.Grieve A Modern Herbal (UK)
Forestry Service (USA)
'Artemisia, Wild in the British Isles', Compiled by James M. Burton 2004
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