大花蒿 da hua hao

Artemisia griffithiana Boissier; A. sieversiana Ehrhart ex Willdenow var. pygmaea Krylov.

Herbs, annual, 10-30(-50) cm tall, occasionally ± woody at base, gray puberulent or pubescent. Stems usually not branched or only shortly branched. Basal and middle stem leaves: petiole 5-12 mm; leaf blade ovate, 2-4 × 1-1.5 cm, 2-pinnatisect; segments 2 or 3 pairs, basal and middle segments 3-5-sect; lobules narrowly linear or filiform, 1-4 × 0.5-1 mm. Uppermost leaves and leaflike bracts sessile, 3-lobed or entire, leaves or lobes linear. Synflorescence a lax, simple, erect raceme. Capitula shortly pedunculate, nodding. Involucre subglobose, 5-10(-15) mm in diam.; receptacle hemispheric, densely pubescent. Marginal female florets 40-70 in 1 or 2 series; corolla vasiform or narrowly conical, (2-)4-toothed. Disk florets 80-100, bisexual. Achenes ovoid or obovoid-ellipsoid. Fl. and fr. Aug-Oct. 2n = 18, 36.

Steppes, hills, waste areas, dry places, saline or gravelly soils; 1500-5500 m. Gansu, Ningxia, Qinghai, Xinjiang, Xizang [Afghanistan, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan; SW Asia].