Artemisia abaensis Y. R. Ling et S. Y. Zhao in Bull. Bot. Res. 5(2): 4, fig. 11. 1985.
Morphological and ecological characteristics of Artemisia absinthium
Basic plant morphology
1.Root system and stem
- It is a perennial herb with a slender main root; the rhizomes are diverse, thinly striped or slightly stout.
- Culms are usually single or few tufted, semi-woody at the base, herbaceous in the upper part, up to 1 m tall, with obvious longitudinal ribs.
- The main stem branches are 30-40 cm long, and the secondary branchlets are densely distributed.
- The surface of the stem and branches is densely covered with gray-yellow to light yellow multi-nodal villous hairs, and at the same time covered with slender woolly hairs, forming a unique indumentum structure.
2.Leaf blade characteristics
- Leaf blade papery, leaf surface sparsely covered with arachnoid pilose, occasionally with scattered white glandular dots, leaf abaxial surface densely covered with gray-white arachnoid wool.
- The lower stem leaf blades are naturally deciduous before anthesis; the middle leaf blades are long ovate or elliptic, 6-8 cm long, 3.5-4.5 cm wide, with a typical bipinnate structure: the first lobe is subentire, with (4-)5-6 elliptic lobes on each side, and the lobes are broadly spaced; the second lobe produces 2-3 deeply cleft teeth on each side, and the central cleft tooth is the longest (0.5-1.2 × 0.2 cm), and the central cleft tooth is the longest (0.5-1.2 × 0.2 cm), and the central cleft tooth is the longest (0.5-1.2 × 0.2 mm). The central lobe is the longest (0.5-1.2 × 0.2-0.4 cm), oblong-ovate with an acute apex, and the margins are entire or occasionally 1-2-denticulate.
- The leaf rachis has narrowly winged extensions, the petiole is 3-5 mm long, and the base bears a finely miniaturized pseudostipule that is pinnatisect.
- The upper leaf blade lobes are simplified to one or two times pinnatipartite, while the bracteate leaves are mostly lanceolate or trifid.
Inflorescence and flowers and fruits
1.Inflorescence structure
- Heads miniaturized, long ovate to oblong, 1.5-2 mm in diameter, sessile or very shortly pedicellate, base with linear bracteoles. Inflorescences arranged in spikes on branches.
- Inflorescences are arranged in spikes or compound spikes on branches, eventually forming a multistage branched spreading panicle at the top of the stem.
- The involucre is distinctly stratified: outer involucral bracts narrowly ovate, 1-1.5 mm long, abaxially sparsely covered with arachnid hairs; middle involucral bracts ovate, 1.8-2.2 mm long, abaxially puberulent; inner and outer involucres with green midribs; inner involucre semimembranous, ovate, 2-2.5 mm long, subglabrous.
2.Flowering and fruiting
- Female flowers 2-5, corolla narrowly tubular, limb with 0-2-lobed teeth, conspicuously purple-tinted, styles projecting from corolla and dichotomously bifurcated; bisexual flowers 4-8, corolla tubular, limb revolute, anthers linear with triangular appendages, styles as long as corolla, apically truncate and bifurcate.
- Achenes obovate, ca. 0.8 mm, surface with fine longitudinal lines.
- The flowering and fruiting period is concentrated in August-October, and the seeds are dispersed by wind when ripe.
Habitat and geographic distribution
1.Ecological adaptation
- Typical wetland companion species, commonly found in alluvial zones along lakes, streams and gullies, and wet areas along roadsides at an altitude of 2000-3500 meters, with strong tolerance to seasonal flooding.
2.Distribution range:
Endemic to China, concentrated in:
- Eastern Qinghai Province (Yellow River and Huangshui Basin)
- Southwestern Gansu Province (Gannan Plateau)
- Northwestern Sichuan Province (Aba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture)
Type specimens
The holotype specimen was collected by the Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, from the riverbank habitat of Jiuzhaigou (now Jiuzhaigou County), Nanping County, Aba Prefecture, in September 1983, specimen No. PE-028736, and is now in the National Herbarium (PE).