芙蓉菊 fu rong ju

Artemisia chinensis Linnaeus, Sp. Pl. 2: 849. 1753; Chrysanthemum artemisioides (Lessing) Kitamura; Crossostephium artemisioides Lessing; Tanacetum chinense (Linnaeus) A. Gray ex Maximowicz.

Plants 10-40 cm tall, much branched in upper part, densely gray-white pubescent. Leaves sessile, aggregated at apex of branches; leaf blade narrowly spatulate or narrowly lanceolate, 2-4 × 0.4-0.5 cm, both surfaces densely gray-white pubescent, base cuneate-attenuate, margin entire or sometimes apex 3- or 4-lobed, thick. Capitula rather small, disciform, ca. 7 mm in diam., many, in a frondose raceme along branches. Involucres hemispheric; phyllaries in 3 rows, outer and middle ones equal, elliptic, herbaceous, abaxially densely gray-white pubescent, apex obtuse or acute, inner ones oblong, small, abaxially subglabrous, margin broadly scarious. Marginal female florets in 1 row, tubular, ca. 1.5 mm, gland-dotted outside, apex 2- or 3-denticulate. Disk florets many, tubular, densely gland-dotted outside, 5-lobed. Pappus ca. 0.5 mm, coroniform, of small scales. Fl. and fr. year-round.

Littoral plant found on raised coral outcrops. Fujian, Guangdong, Taiwan, Yunnan, Zhejiang [Japan].

Crossostephium chinensis is rare and possibly threatened in the wild but is often cultivated for ornamental and medicinal purposes. The whole plant is used medicinally for treating infantile convulsions.