Common Mugwort
Artemisia Vulgaris, Var. Californica, Bess. Composite Family
Stems.—Rather simple; a foot or two high. Leaves.—Ample; slashed downward into long acute lobes; green above; cottony-woolly beneath; bitter; strong-scented; the upper often entire, linear or lanceolate. Flower-heads.—Minute; two lines high, one broad; composed of tubular disk-flowers only; greenish, in long, slender, crowded panicles. Hab.—Near the Coast, from San Francisco northward.
This is a common weed along our roadsides, and is easily known by its slashed leaves with silvery under surfaces. These leaves are very bitter. This is closely allied to the wormwood, and by many people is called “wormwood.”