Absinthium sericeum Besser, Bull. Soc. Imp. Naturalistes Moscou 1: 237. 1829; A. grandiflorum Besser; A. nitens Steven ex Besser; Artemisia holosericea Ledebour; A. holosericea var. grandiflora Ledebour; A. holosericea var. parviflora Ledebour; A. nitens (Steven ex Besser) Steven ex Krascheninnikov; A. sericea var. gmeliniana Besser; A. sericea var. grandiflora (Ledebour) Candolle; A. sericea var. ledebouriana Besser; A. sericea var. nitens (Steven ex Besser) Candolle; A. sericea var. pallasiana Besser; A. sericea f. parviflora (Ledebour) Pampanini; A. sericea var. parviflora (Ledebour) Candolle.

Subshrubs or perennial herbs, 40-60(-75) cm tall, with thick, creeping rhizomes. Stems single to several, usually not branched, gray sericeous or stems glabrescent. Basal leaves deciduous by anthesis. Middle stem leaves: petiole 5-8 mm; leaf blade elliptic or ovate, 3-5 × 2-4 cm, 2-pinnatisect; segments 4(-6) pairs, distal lobes 3-lobulate or subpalmatisect; lobules linear or linear-lanceolate, 10-17 × 1.5-2 mm, apex acute. Uppermost leaves and bracts pinnatisect or 3-5-sect. Synflorescence a ± narrow, racemelike panicle. Capitula shortly pedunculate, nodding. Involucre hemispheric, (4-)5-6(-9) mm in diam.; phyllaries with narrow white scarious margin; receptacle hemispheric, densely pubescent. Marginal female florets 10-14; corolla narrowly conical or tubular, 2- or 3-toothed. Disk florets 40-80, bisexual; corolla limb puberulent. Achenes ellipsoid or ellipsoid-ovoid. Fl. and fr. Jul-Oct. 2n = 18.

Forest margins, hills, steppes, canyons, waste areas; 600-1600 m. Nei Mongol, Ningxia, N Xinjiang [India, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, N Pakistan, Russia; E Europe].