Artemisia sieversiana

Artemisia sieversiana Ehrh., Species Plantarum. Editio quarta 3: 1845 1800.;
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Siberia to Afghanistan and Japan: Afghanistan, Altay, Amur, Buryatiya, China North-Central, China South-Central, Chita, Inner Mongolia, Irkutsk, Japan, Kamchatka, Kazakhstan, Khabarovsk, Kirgizstan, Korea, Krasnoyarsk, Magadan, Manchuria, Mongolia, Pakistan, Primorye, Qinghai, Tadzhikistan, Tibet, Turkmenistan, Tuva, Uzbekistan, West Himalaya, West Siberia, Xinjiang, Yakutskiya; Introduced into: Baltic States, Belarus, Czechoslovakia, Germany, Northwest European R, Poland, Ukraine as per POWO;

Artemisia macrocephala Jacquemont ex Besser : 11 posts by 3 authors. Attachments (3)
Sharing some oictures I guess is Artemisia macrocephala Jacquemont ex Besser shot at Nubra Valley on 21 August 2016.

This does not fit Artemisia macrocephala. See my previous comments about this very difficult genus.

Any expert can ID?

Pl. check comparative images at Artemisia

See my previous comments about this very difficult genus. It will take a lot of time and effort for me to become more familiar with this challenging genus in Ladakh.
In the mean-time, IF we have someone more familiar with the genus, would they kindly comment.

I have been able to make some progress with your images of an Artemisia taken in Nubra Valley by …
Being such a difficult genus it does not help not having good close-ups of flower-heads nor foliage one has to be rather provisional but but I think it may well be Artemisia sieversiana (an accepted name) which Stewart
found to be common in Kashmir & also found in Ladakh overall in the region from 2000-4500m.

Any link between two? Catalogue of Life

Well, Hooker I FBI lists the two species one after each other with both as annuals or biennals (a characteristic of perhaps greater significance than realised.

Just noted that ‘Flowers of the Himalaya’ states that A.sieversiana is common on stony ground in Ladakh (also in dry areas of Nepal) to 4100m. They say flower-heads 6-8mm or more across.

Interestingly, Aswal & Mehrotra in ‘Flora of Lahaul-Spiti’ state that A.macrocephala is frequent, a characteristic strongly aromatic species of dry Himalayan zone, often forms clumps on slopes yet they only include A.sieversiana on the strength of it being recorded in ‘Flora of Himachal Pradesh’. They separate the two on the basis of Heads nodding, in lax long racemes (A.sieversiana) whilst heads nodding at ends of branches (A.macrocephala).

If you read the observations which follow you will appreciate that I am attempting, if not the impossible, a challenging task of meaningfully naming material based, in this case, on a small number of non-close-up images not showing the upper or lower foliage to help confirm (or not) my provisional thoughts. Thus my detective work only has a few clues to help. Most naming of Artemsias has been based upon pressed specimens which can be

examined closely.

Many species in Ladakh (belonging to a variety of genera) have characteristic smells/odours – which if noted could make a significant contribution to identification – sometimes these odours persist in dried/pressed specimens.

Please note unless there is a Artemisia specialist who has recently examined material from Ladak and surrounding regions who can comment with greater authority, my observations must be viewed as more provisional than normal (i.e. for most other genera) but are worth making in an effort to improve the present

situation and encourage further observations and photographs (and for authorised botanists pressed specimen collection for herbaria) – which is the only way to make more progress.

I think it will be informative if I reproduce the thoughts of Kletter & Kriechbaum within ‘Tibetan Medicinal Plants’

“we would like to say a few words about the difficulties facing those trying to determine wormwood plants. The flower heads are tiny, the flowers they contain even smaller and the characters considered important by botanists, like whetehr the flowers are hermaphroditic or unisexual, are difficult to check in the field. Thus regarding he flowering parts, the wormwoods look relatively similar – at least the differences are difficult to see. In contrast, the vegetative parts, particularly the often very elegant cut of the leaves and their odour, are very striking. Unfortunately, such features are difficult to describe in words and often greatly variable within a single species. The variability is often not only caused genetically but also influenced by environmental factors , not only climatic but also zoogenic or anthropogenic ones, such as grazing by animals or cutting by humans. Under the latter impact, wormwoods form heavily branched, stunted individuals with aberrant leaf forms, which might even lead to the description of one or the other “new species”. As Podlech points out, wormwoods can only be truly understood if they are studied in the field over an entire vegetation period. Herbarium material particularly of a particular sub-genus, usually comprises either unidentifiable vegetative plants from early collections or late-flowering and fruiting plants which have already lost their basal leaves….. Misidentifications – even by specialists – are not rare in herbaria…… The annual species only form a small minority within the genus, but as colonising plants they are quite common around settlements, nomad camps, livestock trails and cultivated areas”

And thus are likely to be disproportionately collected/noticed. In the 19th Century the earliest explorers in the Himalaya (from 1830 onwards in the NW) obviously followed the trails of the day (not necessarily the current road routes of today) and nowadays with vehicular transport available a disproportionate number of ‘road-side’ plants (perhaps ‘weeds’) are photographed or collected. A majority of botanical exploration since Indian Independence has consisted of collection at the ‘road-side’ with little venturing or scrambling about far from the main routes or undertaking of treks to less-visited locations.

Kletter & Kriechbaum went on to say, “The genus Artemisia in Central Asia and the Himalaya still has not been sufficiently investigated”.
They went on to make useful suggestions of groups of species based upon their ecology from those dominant in relatively undisturbed high-altitude steppe and semi-desert, through species dominating overgrazed areas because of their unpalatability, through perennials with colonising abilities along paths & roads, on abandoned fields or in wasteland around settlements to short-lived plants colonising frequently disturbed soil in & around settlements and on cultivated land.

Thank you very much. Actually, in that circumstances I could not get the clear and detail pictures all parts of the plant which is causing difficulty in properly identifying.

Identification request for this Artemisia sp.: 2 images.
Location: Kupwara, J&K.

Artemisia ??

Yes. … is correct. I had grown this. But forgotten the species name.

Artemisia stellariana (if found in Kashmir) or A. absinthium

Does not seem to match with either of these as per images at Artemisia absinthium L. and Artemisia stelleriana Besser

Also I could not find a match as per comparative images at Artemisia.
What are the species reported in your area?

A.absinthium

A. amygadalina

A. vestita

Artemisia maritime

Artemisia roxburghiana

Artemisia sieversiana
Artemesia annua

After checking in our eflora, POWO and GBIF, the closest I could reach is Artemisia sieversiana as per POWO and GBIF specimens- one, two, three.
But I am not sure.
Pl. check further.

Looks matching:
https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/633994-Artemisia-sieversiana/browse_photos

Dear members of eflora india. Help me to identify this Artemesia sp. From kupwara kashmir: 2 same images.
Location: Kupwara, J&K.

Check for A. absinthium.

Looks something different from A.ansinthium

Already discussed in detail at Identification request for this Artemisia sp.

SK 3132 12 November 2021: 7 very high res. images.
Location: Kalikot, West Nepal
Altitude: 1696m.
Date: 15 August 2021
Habit : Wild
Artemisia siversiana Ehrh. ex Willd. ??

May be as per images at Artemisia sieversiana Ehrh. and as per GBIF images- one, two, three, four

SK 3153 19 November 2021: 5 very high res. images.

Location: Jumla, West Nepal

Altitude: 2561m.

Date: 18 August 2021
Habit : Wild
Artemisia …???

I think it is close to the images at Artemisia sieversiana Ehrh.

Artemisia for ID from Jawahar Tunnel Kashmir-GS25112021-3: 4 images- 3 high res.
Need ID of Artemisia clicked from Upper Munda, below Jawahar Tunnel, Kashmir, alt. 2000 m, 22-8-2011