135. Artemisia dracunculus Linnaeus, Sp. Pl. 2: 849. 1753.
龙蒿 long hao
Subshrubs, (20-)40-150(-200) cm tall, with branched, woody rhizome; all parts densely to sparsely puberulent or tomentose, sparser with age, sometimes glabrescent. Leaves sessile or subsessile; basal leaf blades entire or 2- or 3-lobed at tip. Middle stem leaves linear-lanceolate, elliptic-lanceolate, or linear, (1.5-)3-7(-10) × (0.1-)0.2-0.6(-1) cm, entire or with apex 3-partite or -cleft, or with 1(or 2) small lateral lobes. Uppermost leaves and leaflike bracts linear or lanceolate, 5-30 × 1-2 mm. Synflorescence a broad to racemelike leafy panicle; branches ascending to erect, sometimes appressed, to 10 cm. Capitula remote to approximate, nodding; peduncles curved, to 5 mm. Involucre subglobose, ovoid, or hemispheric, 2-5 mm in diam.; phyllaries glabrescent, scarious margin broad, outer phyllaries oblong or lanceolate, inner orbicular-oblong. Marginal female florets 6-10[-15]; corolla 0.5-1 mm, glandular, 2-fid. Disk florets 4-14, male; corolla campanulate, 2-2.5, 5-lobed. Achenes obovoid or obovoid-ellipsoid. Fl. and fr. Jul-Oct. 2n = 18, 36, 54, 72, 90.
Dry slopes, steppes, semidesert steppes, forest steppes, forest margins, waste areas, roadsides, terraces, subalpine meadows, meadow steppes, dry river valleys, rocky slopes, saline-alkaline soils; 500-3800 m. Gansu, Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning, Nei Mongol, Ningxia, Qinghai, N Shaanxi, N Shanxi, Xinjiang, W Xizang [Afghanistan, N India, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, N and W Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan; C and SW Asia, C, E, and W Europe, North America].
Artemisia dracunculus is cultivated as a culinary herb in Europe and used as a source of winter fodder for sheep in Xizang.
