Sawtooth Wormwood

Artemisia serrata is closely related to A. ludoviciana and A. longifolia; it is distinguished by its prominent, serrated leaf margins. It is apparently native to the upper Mississippi Valley and naturalized in New York, presumably following introduction as a garden plant. Reports from Kansas and Missouri may be based on collections of A. ludoviciana.

Perennials, 50–100(–300) cm (not cespitose), pleasantly aromatic (fibrous-rooted, rhizomes horizontal, relatively short). Stems 2–5, erect, brown, mostly simple (bases woody), sparsely tomentose. Leaves cauline, bicolor (white and green); blades lanceolate, 7–15 × 1–2.5 cm, serrate (teeth ca. 2 mm), faces densely tomentose (abaxial) or glabrate (adaxial). Heads (peduncles 0 or to 2 mm) in racemiform arrays 10–15 × 5–15 cm. Involucres campanulate, 2.5–3 × 2–2.5 mm. Phyllaries lanceolate (margins hyaline), densely tomentose. Florets: pistillate 3–5; bisexual 9–10; corollas pale yellow, 1.5–2 mm, sparsely glandular. Cypselae ellipsoid, ca. 1 mm, glabrous. 2n = 36.

Artemisia vulgaris Linnaeus subsp. serrata (Nuttall) H. M. Hall & Clements

Artemisia serrata Nutt. Gen. 2 : 142. 1818
Artemisia ludoviciana serrata T. & G. Fl. N. Am. 2: 420. 1843.
A tall perennial, with a rootstock; stem 1-3 m. high, slightly floccose when young, but soon glabrous, striate; leaves numerous, lanceolate to linear-lanceolate, acuminate, closely and sharply serrate, green and glabrous above, white-tomentose beneath, 7-15 cm. long, 6-25 mm. wide; heads very numerous in a leafy panicle, mostly erect; involucre campanulate, about 3 mm. high and 2 mm. broad, slightly floccose; bracts about 10, in 3 series, the outer ovate, acute, about half as long as the innermost; inner bracts elliptic, obtuse; ray-flowers 6-8; corollas about 1 mm. long; disk-flowers 10-12; corollas nearly 2 cm. long; achenes 1 mm. long.
Tyte locality: Near the Prairie du Chien, on the banks of the Mississippi. Distribution: Illinois to Kansas, and North Dakota; introduced in northern New York.

Artemisia serrata is a North American species in the sunflower family, with the common name serrate-leaved sage or saw-tooth wormwood. It is native to the north-central part of the United States (Iowa, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota, with isolated populations in New York State).