| DESCRIPTION: It is a vigorous, aromatic, herbaceous plant reaching 120-200 or even 300 cm in height and 100 cm in width. Gandular trichomes occur on leaves and especially inflorescences. Artemisinin is sequestered in these trichomes. USE: Artemisinin used in the treatment of malaria. Due to its aggressive fibrous root system it is used for erosion control on slopes. It also makes a graceful accent in the back of a flowerbed or a pretty quick screen and is used in fresh and dried arrangements. GROWING PERIOD: Annual or sometimes biennial. COMMON NAMES: Annual wormwood. FURTHER INF: It is native to Asia, the center of origin is most probably China; wild populations occur both in China and Vietnam. It thrives in many temperate to sub-tropical ecologies. The plant is un-adapted to the tropics because flowering will be induced when the plants are very small; with the possible exceptions of high altitude plateaus and/or regions with a pronounced cool period such as Vietnam where there are two months of low temperatures at the beginning of the season. It can be found on barnyards, farm lots, fallow fields, borders of woods, mudflats along streams and ponds, waste ground, roadsides, railroads, alleys of older cities and in cultivated beds. It has become a weed in many areas of the world. The critical photoperiod seems to be about 13.5 hours, but there are likely to be photoperiod x temperature interactions. Plants are more aromatic and long-lived when grown in a poor dry soil. |