3. Artemisia desertorum Spreng., Syst. Veg. 3: 490. 1826; Bess. in Bull. Soc. Nat. Mosc. 8: 64. 1835; DC., Prodr. 6: 97. 1837; C.B.Clarke, Comp. Ind. 158. 1876; Hook. f., Fl. Brit. Ind. 3: 322. 1881; Poljakov in Schischk. & Bobrov, Fl. USSR 26: 521. t. 30. fig. 4. 2000 (Engl. transl.); R. R. Stewart, Ann. Cat. Vasc. Pl. W. Pak. & Kashm. 715. 1972; Tsiang & Li, l. c. 526. fig. 6466.
A. jacquemontiana Besser in Bull. Soc. Nat. Mosc. 8: 59. 1835; A. foetida Jacquem. ex Besser in Bull. Soc. Nat. Mosc. 9: 96. 1836; in DC., l. c. 98; A. desertorum Spreng. var. pallasiana Pamp. in Nuov. Giorn. Bot. Ital. 34: 652. 1927; Oligosporus desertorum (Spreng.) Poljakov in Trudy Inst. Bot. Akad. Nauk. Kazakhst. SSR 11: 167. 1961.
Perennial, glabrous, foetid herb with suberect, grooved and ribbed, greenish-pale, 50-80 (-90) cm tall stems from woody, ± oblique prostrate rootstock. Basal and lower stem leaves long petioled, variable in size and lobing, usually 4-10 cm long, 2-3-pinnatipartite into broadly linear or linear-lanceolate ultimate segments; middle and upper stem leaves gradually smaller, shortly petiolate to sessile, basally auriculate, 3-5 cm long, unipinnatipartite into linear-lanceolate, 1.5-2 cm x 1.5-2 mm, acute segments; upper most in the floral region simple, linear, acute. Capitula numerous, heterogamous, pedunculate, subglobose, 2.5-3.0 x 1.5-2.0 mm, nodding in a narrow, 15-20 x 5-6 cm panicle with 6-10 cm long, ± erect primary branches and 1-1.5 cm long upwardly directed secondary branches. Involucre 3-seriate, phyllaries glabrous, outer oval, c. 2.5 x 1.75 mm, narrowly hyaline membranous margined; inner almost similar to outer except for wide scarious margins. Receptacle convex, glabrous. Florets 12-16; marginal florets 4-5, fertile, with narrow tubular, c. 0.75 mm long, 2-dentate corolla; disc-florets 8-12, functionally male, with c. 1.75 mm long, tubular, glandulose, 5-toothed corolla. Cypselas oval, c. 1 mm long, finely striate, dark brown.
Fl. Per.: July-September.
Type: Described from Siberia (B).
Distribution: Pakistan (Kashmir, Ladakh), India, China, Mongolia and Russia (E. Siberia, Usk Ussuri and Zeya Bureya).