Artemisia douglasiana Besser=A. vulgaris var. californica=A. heterophyllaAsteraceae (Sunflower Family)Native
California MugwortDouglas' Mugwort
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June Photo
Plant Characteristics:
Stout rhizomatous perennial, 5-15 dm. high; stems simple or sometimes
branched above; lvs. commonly 7-15 cm. long, lanceolate to elliptic and entire,
or oblanceolate to obovate in outline and coarsely few-lobed or toothed toward
apex, the lobes entire, mostly lanceolate, strongly discolored, glabrous and
green to sparsely tomentulose above, densely gray-tomentose beneath, mostly
plane; infl. 10-30 cm. long, 3-9 cm. wide, leafy, open or dense, elongate,
paniculate; heads erect or nodding; invol. campanulate, 3-4 mm. long, +/-
tomentose; phyllaries 8-14; ray-fls. 6-10; disk-fls. 10-25; fr. less than 1 mm.,
glabrous.
Habitat:
Mostly low waste places, at elevs. up to 6000 ft.; many Plant
Communities; cismontane and to desert edge as at Victorville; to Wash., Ida., L.
Calif. June-Oct.
Name:
See A. californica for notes on
the name Artemisia.
Douglasiana,
for David Douglas (1798-1834),
Scottish botanist who made several journeys to America.
Douglas provided the material from which some 300 species of California
plants were to be described. (Jaeger
308).
General:
Common in the Santa Heights area at low elevations, and in Big Canyon,
uncommon elsewhere. Photographed
specimens are from Santa Ana Heights. (my comments).
Leaves were used by the Indians in treating nervous and spasmodic
affections. Medicine was made by
simmering leaves in water and was used for stomachache, headache, poison oak and
to heal wounds. Good for female
complaints, good for rheumatism and gout. A
decoction of the leaves was taken after childbirth to promote blood circulation.
(Heizer and Elsasser 227).
At the time of the first Spanish voyages of discovery along the southern
California coast, beginning with Cabrillo in 1542, the Santa Barbara Channel
Islands, mainland coast and adjacent interior mountains and valleys were
occupied by about 15,000 people who later became known as the Chumash.
Among the medicinal plants used by these Indians was Artemisia
douglasiana which was made into a tea to soothe poison oak rash.
This plant was also used to cauterize wounds using small cones of dried
mugwort leaves, which were placed on the skin and ignited.
This method was one of the most important Chumash remedies, along with
seawater, datura, bloodletting and red ants.
(Timbrook, J. "Virtuous Herbs: Plants in Chumash Medicine".
Journal of Ethnobiology, Winter 1987, 171-180). Probably several species of
Artemisia were used in making arrows. The
Luiseno, Indians who inhabited what is now northern San Diego County and inland
through a portion of Riverside County to the San Jacinto Mountains, regularly
made their inferior arrows from A. douglasiana which may also be found in Cahuilla territory.
A. dracunculus would also have
provided shaft material. (Bean
& Saubel 42). Mugwort
is reported to have a large quantity of chemical antifeedants called terpenes
which inhibit digestion, and thus
Text Ref:
Abrams, Vol. IV 406; Hickman, Ed. 204; Munz, Calif.
Flora 1237; Munz, Flora So. Calif.
117; Roberts 9.
Photo Ref:
June 6 83 # 2,3; July 3 83 # 13,14.
Identity: by R. De Ruff.
First Found: June 1983.
Computer Ref: Plant Data 147.
Have plant specimen.
Last edit 3/35/05.
June Photo July Photo