Artemisia austriaca var. jacquiniana Candolle; A. austriaca f. microcephala Pampanini; A. austriaca var. orientalis (Willdenow) Candolle; A. nivea Redowsky ex Willdenow; A. orientalis Willdenow; A. repens Pallas ex Willdenow.

Herbs, perennial, or subshrubs, 15-50 cm tall, caespitose, silvery gray or yellowish sericeous-pubescent. Leaves sessile, lowermost leaves 3-pinnatisect. Middle stem leaves: leaf blade elliptic-ovate or ovate, 1.5-4 × 1-2.5 cm, 2- or 3-pinnatisect; segments 2 or 3 pairs; lobules narrowly linear, 2-12 × 0.5-1 mm. Uppermost leaves and leaflike bracts pinnatisect or 3-sect or entire; bracts linear. Synflorescence a broad panicle. Involucre subglobose or ovoid-campanulate, 1-2 mm in diam. Marginal female florets 3-7. Disk florets 7 or 8, bisexual; corolla limb puberulent. Achenes ellipsoid. Fl. and fr. Aug-Oct. 2n = 16, 32, 36.

The essential oils from Artemisia austriaca are used as a perfume; the whole plant is used as herbage.

Dry terraces, floodlands, saline-alkaline soils, open forests, semidesert steppes, wastelands; middle or low elevations. N and W Nei Mongol, N Xinjiang [Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan; SW Asia (Iran), C, E, and SW Europe].