Artemisia freitagii Podlech in Rech. f., Fl. Iran. Comp. IV. 158: 193. t. 180. 1986.

Perennial dwarf shrublet with several, erect, rigid, 15 – 25 cm tall, whitish floccose tomentose to ultimately subglabrous, intricate floral shoots from upright, c. 1.5 – 2 cm thick, woody rootstock. Leaves whitish or greyish hoary; basal and lower petiolate, lamina oblong, 1.5 – 2.2 cm x 6 – 8 mm, uni-pinnatisect into oblong, 1 – 2 mm long, obtuse ultimate segments; middle stem leaves smaller, subsessile; uppermost in floral region linear, entire or with lateral auricles. Capitula numerous, sessile, narrowly ovate, c. 3 mm long, remote or in glomerules of 2 – 3, at branchlet apices, in broad or narrow pyramidate, 12 – 20 x 4 – 10 cm panicle, with up to 8 cm long, horizontally patent branches. Involucre 5 – 6-seriate, phyllaries compactly imbricate, ± arachnoid-hairy; outermost very small, orbiculate, c. 1 x 1 mm; inner ones oblong-oblanceolate, scarios-margined. Florets 3 – 4, bisexual.

Fl. Per.: August-October.

Type: Afghanistan: Gardez, c. 25 km NW of Urgun, semi-desertic plains, 2300 m, 22.8.1967, Freitag 1944 (Herb. Freitag).

Pebbly and gravel-mixed coarse sands in rocky dry terrain in North Western Balochistan; Distribution: Endemic to Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Recorded here for the first time.