Wormwood - Artemisia absinthium

Medium to tall, strongly aromatic, silkily hairy, often tufted plant. Stems grooved, somewhat woody below. Leaves 2-3 pinnately lobed, stalked, silkily white on both surfaces. Flowerheads 3 mm, yellowish, sub globose, nodding in long panicles.

Mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris)

Mature leaves with dense grey-white hairs on the upperside

A photograph of the whole plant

Roadside verges, waste ground and coastal habitats.

Flowers July and August.

Perennial

Found throughout England and Wales, but mostly coastal elsewhere in Britain.

Local in Leicestershire and Rutland, found mostly around Leicester and in the west of our area where it can be quite frequent. In the 1979 Flora survey of Leicestershire it was found in 142 of the 617 tetrads.