圆头蒿 yuan tou hao

Artemisia salsoloides Willdenow var. mongolica Pampanini, p.p.; Oligosporus sphaerocephalus (Krascheninnikov) Poljakov.

Shrubs, 80-150 tall, with a strong woody stock, long and shortly branched, puberulent or glabrescent, incanous or yellowish, bark flaking off. Leaves ± succulent. Lower and middle stem leaves: petiole 0.3-0.8 cm; leaf blade broadly ovate or ovate, 2-5(-8) × 1.5-3(-4) cm, puberulent or glabrescent, 1- or 2-pinnatisect; segments (1 or)2 or 3 pairs, lateral middle lobes longer than other lobes, 3-sect; lobules linear or falcate, (5-)10-20(-30) × (1-)1.5-2 mm, apex mucronulate. Uppermost leaves pinnatisect or 3-lobed; leaflike bracts linear, entire. Synflorescence a broad, much-branched panicle. Capitula shortly pedunculate, nodding. Involucre globose or subglobose, 3-4 mm in diam.; phyllaries ± leathery. Marginal female florets 4-12. Disk florets 6-20, male. Achenes minute, obovoid. Fl. and fr. Jul-Oct.

Dunes of desert areas, desert steppes, dry slopes; 1000-2900 m. N and W Gansu, SW Nei Mongol, Ningxia, N Qinghai, N Shaanxi, N Shanxi, E Xinjiang [S Mongolia].

Artemisia sphaerocephala is used for windbreaks and sand stabilization, and it is used medicinally.