Introductory
SPECIES: Artemisia absinthium | Absinth Wormwood 



ABBREVIATION : 
ARTABS

SYNONYMS : 
NO-ENTRY


SCS PLANT CODE : 
   ARAB3
   ARABA
   ARABI3


COMMON NAMES : 
   absinth wormwood
   common wormwood
   wormwood sage


TAXONOMY : 
The currently accepted scientific name for absinth wormwood is Artemisia
absinthium L. (Asteraceae) [2,6,7,27].  Most North American authors do
not recognize varieties of absinth wormwood.  However, Boivin [2] has
classified plants in Canada as insipid wormwood (A. a. var. insipida
Stechmann).


LIFE FORM : 
Forb

FEDERAL LEGAL STATUS : 
No special status

OTHER STATUS : 
NO-ENTRY


COMPILED BY AND DATE : 
Jennifer H. Carey, December 1994


LAST REVISED BY AND DATE : 
NO-ENTRY


AUTHORSHIP AND CITATION : 
Carey, Jennifer H. 1994. Artemisia absinthium. In: Remainder of Citation

DISTRIBUTION AND OCCURRENCE
SPECIES: Artemisia absinthium | Absinth Wormwood 



GENERAL DISTRIBUTION : 
Absinth wormwood, native to Europe, was introduced to North America in
1841 [15].  It is now naturalized across the northern United States and
in Canada.  It occurs from Nova Scotia west to British Columbia; south
to Oregon and Utah; and east through Colorado and Nebraska to Virginia
[3,6,7,17,27].


ECOSYSTEMS : 
   FRES10  White - red - jack pine
   FRES11  Spruce - fir
   FRES15  Oak - hickory
   FRES17  Elm - ash - cottonwood
   FRES18  Maple - beech - birch
   FRES19  Aspen - birch
   FRES20  Douglas-fir
   FRES21  Ponderosa pine
   FRES22  Western white pine
   FRES23  Fir - spruce
   FRES25  Larch
   FRES26  Lodgepole pine
   FRES29  Sagebrush
   FRES35  Pinyon - juniper
   FRES36  Mountain grasslands
   FRES37  Mountain meadows
   FRES38  Plains grasslands
   FRES39  Prairie


STATES : 
     CO  CT  DE  ID  IL  IN  IA  ME  MD  MA
     MI  MN  MT  NE  NH  NJ  NY  ND  OH  OR
     PA  RI  SD  UT  VT  VA  WA  WI  WY  AB
     BC  MB  NB  NS  ON  PE  PQ  SK


ADMINISTRATIVE UNITS : 
     CODA  GLAC  NOCA  OLYM  PIRO  PIPE


BLM PHYSIOGRAPHIC REGIONS : 
    1  Northern Pacific Border
    2  Cascade Mountains
    5  Columbia Plateau
    8  Northern Rocky Mountains
    9  Middle Rocky Mountains
   10  Wyoming Basin
   11  Southern Rocky Mountains
   12  Colorado Plateau
   13  Rocky Mountain Piedmont
   14  Great Plains
   15  Black Hills Uplift
   16  Upper Missouri Basin and Broken Lands


KUCHLER PLANT ASSOCIATIONS : 
NO-ENTRY


SAF COVER TYPES : 
NO-ENTRY


SRM (RANGELAND) COVER TYPES : 
NO-ENTRY


HABITAT TYPES AND PLANT COMMUNITIES : 
Absinth wormwood primarily grows on disturbed sites within grasslands,
pastures, perennial crops, and on land abandoned from cultivation [18].

In Glacier National Park, absinth wormwood was found growing with
orchard grass (Dactylis glomerata) and mountain hollyhock (Iliamna
rivularis).  On a disturbed site in West Glacier, Montana, absinth
wormwood occurs with creeping bentgrass (Agrostis stolonifera) and
yellow sweetclover (Melilotus officinalis) [13].

The upstream portion of islands in the Columbia River is dominated by
lupine (Lupinus spp.), arrowleaf buckwheat (Eriogonum compositum), and
absinth wormwood [9].

Absinth wormwood occurs with western snowberry (Symphoricarpos
occidentalis) in moist ravines in Saskatchewan [18].

VALUE AND USE
SPECIES: Artemisia absinthium | Absinth Wormwood 



WOOD PRODUCTS VALUE : 
NO-ENTRY


IMPORTANCE TO LIVESTOCK AND WILDLIFE : 
Canada geese use absinth wormwood for nesting cover on Columbia River
islands but prefer lupine and willow (Salix spp.) [9].


PALATABILITY : 
Absinth wormwood is unpalatable to fairly palatable to cattle [15,28].
Palatability is listed as poor for horses and good for sheep [28].


NUTRITIONAL VALUE : 
Absinth wormwood energy and protein values are listed as fair [28].


COVER VALUE : 
NO-ENTRY


VALUE FOR REHABILITATION OF DISTURBED SITES : 
NO-ENTRY


OTHER USES AND VALUES : 
Absinth wormwood is a medicinal herb often planted in gardens.
Absinthal, a volatile oil produced from absinth wormwood flowerheads,
was used in French liquors until prohibited in 1915 because of its toxic
and addictive effects [8].


MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS : 
Absinth wormwood is considered a weed in pastureland, cropland, and
rangeland in the northern Great Plains [14,15].  Although it spreads
rapidly on disturbed sites, it is easily controlled by herbicides and/or
vigorous competition from grasses [14].  Picloram provides the most
rapid and complete control of absinth wormwood, but dicamba, 2,4-D, and
glyphosate are also effective.  Application techniques are described
[14,15].

Absinth wormwood, which contains the sesquiterpene lactone absinthin,
can be toxic to other plants in its vicinity.  Studies of its effect on
the germination of other plants are inconclusive [15].  Although absinth
wormwood leaf extracts inhibited the germination of needle-and-thread
grass (Stipa comata), they stimulated the germination of green
needlegrass (S. viridula) [10].

Absinth wormwood taints milk when eaten by cows [14].

BOTANICAL AND ECOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS
SPECIES: Artemisia absinthium | Absinth Wormwood 



GENERAL BOTANICAL CHARACTERISTICS : 
Absinth wormwood is a nonnative, long-lived, fragrant, perennial herb
that grows each year from a woody base.  An individual plant has 20 or
more stems each growing 1.3 to 4.9 feet (0.4-1.5 m) tall.  The fruit is
an achene without a pappus.  The well-developed root system consists of
a taproot occasionally reaching 2 inches (5 cm) in diameter with shallow
lateral branches extending 6 feet in all directions [18].  Absinth
wormwood may be weakly rhizomatous [14,27].  The roots lack the
interxylary bark of some Artemisia spp. which protects the roots from
dessication [15].


RAUNKIAER LIFE FORM : 
   Hemicryptophtye


REGENERATION PROCESSES : 
Absinth wormwood reproduces primarily by seed and is a prolific seed
producer [15,18,24].  Although the small seeds do not have any specific
morphological provision for dispersal, they are easily scattered in hay
and by wind, water, and animals.  The seeds retain their viability for 3
to 4 years [15].  Viable absinth wormwood seeds have been found in the
soil of undisturbed prairie grasslands in North Dakota [11].

Germination rates were measured under various pretreatment and
photoperiod conditions.  Germination was best on moist soils.  It
occurred over a wide range of temperatures between 41 and 104 degrees
Fahrenheit (5-40 deg C) [15].

Absinth wormwood invades extreme northern environments during warm
periods but may not reproduce successfully.  Absinth wormwood was
present in northeastern Manitoba in 1989 but had not produced seeds when
observed in late summer [20].

Maw and others [15] and Staniforth and Scott [20] did not find any
evidence of vegetative reproduction by absinth wormwood.  However,
Selleck and Coupland [18] suggested that absinth wormwood may regenerate
from shallow lateral root branches when plowed.  Welsh and others [27]
reported that absinth wormwood has a rhizomatous caudex, and Lym and
others [14] stated that absinth wormwood may spread by rootstock.


SITE CHARACTERISTICS : 
Absinth wormwood grows on disturbed sites such as along fencelines and
roadsides, on borrow pits and gravel piles, and on overgrazed pastures
and fields recently abandoned from cultivation [15].

Absinth wormwood grows on a variety of soils from gravels to clay loams
[15].  It grows on gravelly soils in Glacier National Park [13], and on
a cobble-gravel substratum on the upstream portion of Columbia River
islands where sand is washed away each spring during high water [8].

Absinth wormwood grows best in moist habitats.  During drought it dies
out on coarse, gravelly soils but survives in ravines and on north-facing
slopes [15,18].  

Absinth wormwood occurs from 5,000 to 7,000 feet (1,500-2,100 m)
elevation in Colorado [28].


SUCCESSIONAL STATUS : 
Absinth wormwood colonizes open, disturbed sites.  Establishment is
minimal where there is a closed grass stand [15].  Absinth wormwood
seedlings which germinated in an ungrazed stand of needle-and-thread
grass did not survive [18].

Absinthe wormwood tolerates some shade [15].  It was found growing
vigorously within a tree plantation with approximately 60 percent crown
cover [18].


SEASONAL DEVELOPMENT : 
Absinth wormwood growth begins in early spring and flowerstalks are
produced by mid-July [15].  Absinth wormwood flowers July through
September [3,15,28].  In North Dakota, absinth wormwood began flowering
the second week of August [22].  Seeds mature in early fall.  Seedlings
emerge from early spring to August whenever moisture and warmth are
available.  Rosettes form by the end of the first growing season [15].

FIRE ECOLOGY
SPECIES: Artemisia absinthium | Absinth Wormwood 



FIRE ECOLOGY OR ADAPTATIONS : 
Although top-killed by fire, absinth wormwood probably reestablishes
after fire by sprouting from undamaged perennating buds [21] or
regenerating from buried seed.


POSTFIRE REGENERATION STRATEGY : 
   Caudex, growing points in soil
   Ground residual colonizer (on-site, initial community)

FIRE EFFECTS
SPECIES: Artemisia absinthium | Absinth Wormwood 



IMMEDIATE FIRE EFFECT ON PLANT : 
Low-severity fire readily top-kills absinth wormwood and may completely
kill some plants.  Because absinth wormwood perennating buds are at or
near the soil surface, they are susceptible to fire [21].


DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF FIRE EFFECT : 
NO-ENTRY


PLANT RESPONSE TO FIRE : 
Absinth wormwood perennating buds will sprout if they survive fire.
Annual early spring prescribed fires were conducted in a South Dakota
prairie infested with absinth wormwood.  Dormant fine fuels ranged from
2,000 to 2,400 kilograms per hectare.  Nearly two-thirds of the absinth
wormwood survived the first fire and regrew, but four consecutive annual
spring fires reduced absinth wormwood by 96 percent [21].


DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF PLANT RESPONSE : 
NO-ENTRY


FIRE MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS : 
Spring fire can reduce absinth wormwood on northern mixed prairie sites
during years with adequate fuel.  However, abundant green herbaceous
material can reduce fire severity during the spring and thus reduce fire
damage to absinth wormwood [21].

REFERENCES
SPECIES: Artemisia absinthium | Absinth Wormwood 



REFERENCES : 

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Related categories for Species: Artemisia absinthium | Absinth Wormwood