mugwort
Family
AsteraceaeScientific Name
Artemisia vulgaris
Other Common Names:
common wormwood
Habit
Mugwort's flowers bloom from July to September. Generally rhizomes are the main reproductive cycle for mugwort. This weed can tolerate mowing, making it difficult to control.
Leaves
The leaves throughout the plant vary greatly in size. The shape, however, tends to remain the same, about 5 leaf extensions from each branch, forming a pointed arrowhead appearance. Leaves have a smooth, dark green upper surface and a lower surface that appears silvery due to white-wooly hairs.
Identifying Characteristics
Mugwort can tolerate mowing and it releases an aroma like an herb.
Flower Seed Head
The flower is developed of many yellowish disk flowers combined onto a flattened head that is about 1/8 inch wide. The flowers are small and inconspicous.
Seed Fruit
The mugwort seeds are developed in a single-seeded fruit that is brown, ridged, and oblong shaped with a narrow base, and tipped with tiny hair-like bristles.
Where Found
Mugwort is generally found in Northeastern U.S., Southern Canada, and along the Pacific Coast. The weed grows in these areas: turfgrass, landscapes, waste places, shores, roadsides. The plant prefers lime-rich soils on generally open ground.
Growth Habit
upright and nonwoody
Thorns or Spines
not present
Approximate Flower Diameter
pencil
Dominant Flower Color
Varies:
white,
yellow,
green
Flower Symmetry
not symmetrical
Leaf Hairs
has hairs
Leaf Shape
Varies:
lance,
oval
Leaf Arrangement
alternate
Leaf Margin
lobed
Leaf Structure
simple
Leaf Stalk
shorter than leaf
Stem Hairs
Varies:
has hairs,
no hairs
Stem Cross Section
square or multi-edged
Milky Sap
not present
Root Structure
Varies:
fibrous,
rhizomes present
Life Cycle
perennial
Ochrea
not present
Plant Type
Herb