Index of Species Information
SPECIES: Artemisia absinthium
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| Photo by Chris Evans, University of Illinois, Bugwood.org. |
Introductory
SPECIES: Artemisia absinthium
AUTHORSHIP AND CITATION :
Carey, Jennifer H. 1994. Artemisia absinthium. In: Fire Effects Information System, [Online].
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station,
Fire Sciences Laboratory (Producer). Available:
https://www.fs.usda.gov/database/feis/plants/forb/artabs/all.html [].
ABBREVIATION :
ARTABS
SYNONYMS :
NO-ENTRY
SCS PLANT CODE :
ARAB3
ARABA
ARABI3
COMMON NAMES :
absinthium
absinth wormwood
common wormwood
wormwood sage
TAXONOMY :
The scientific name of absinthium is Artemisia absinthium L. (Asteraceae)
[2,6,7,27]. Most North American authors do not recognize varieties of
absinthium. However, Boivin [2] has classified plants in Canada as
insipid wormwood (A. a. var. insipida Stechmann).
LIFE FORM :
Forb
FEDERAL LEGAL STATUS :
No special status
OTHER STATUS :
NO-ENTRY
DISTRIBUTION AND OCCURRENCE
SPECIES: Artemisia absinthium
GENERAL DISTRIBUTION :
Absinthium, native to Europe, was introduced to North America in
1841 [15]. It is now naturalized across the northern United States and
in Canada. It occurs from Nova Scotia west to British Columbia; south
to Oregon and Utah; and east through Colorado and Nebraska to Virginia
[3,6,7,17,27].
ECOSYSTEMS :
FRES10 White - red - jack pine
FRES11 Spruce - fir
FRES15 Oak - hickory
FRES17 Elm - ash - cottonwood
FRES18 Maple - beech - birch
FRES19 Aspen - birch
FRES20 Douglas-fir
FRES21 Ponderosa pine
FRES22 Western white pine
FRES23 Fir - spruce
FRES25 Larch
FRES26 Lodgepole pine
FRES29 Sagebrush
FRES35 Pinyon - juniper
FRES36 Mountain grasslands
FRES37 Mountain meadows
FRES38 Plains grasslands
FRES39 Prairie
STATES :
CO CT DE ID IL IN IA ME MD MA
MI MN MT NE NH NJ NY ND OH OR
PA RI SD UT VT VA WA WI WY AB
BC MB NB NS ON PE PQ SK
BLM PHYSIOGRAPHIC REGIONS :
1 Northern Pacific Border
2 Cascade Mountains
5 Columbia Plateau
8 Northern Rocky Mountains
9 Middle Rocky Mountains
10 Wyoming Basin
11 Southern Rocky Mountains
12 Colorado Plateau
13 Rocky Mountain Piedmont
14 Great Plains
15 Black Hills Uplift
16 Upper Missouri Basin and Broken Lands
KUCHLER PLANT ASSOCIATIONS :
NO-ENTRY
SAF COVER TYPES :
NO-ENTRY
SRM (RANGELAND) COVER TYPES :
NO-ENTRY
HABITAT TYPES AND PLANT COMMUNITIES :
Absinthium primarily grows on disturbed sites within grasslands,
pastures, perennial crops, and on land abandoned from cultivation [18].
In Glacier National Park, absinthium was found growing with
orchard grass (Dactylis glomerata) and mountain hollyhock (Iliamna
rivularis). On a disturbed site in West Glacier, Montana, absinth
wormwood occurs with creeping bentgrass (Agrostis stolonifera) and
yellow sweetclover (Melilotus officinalis) [13].
The upstream portion of islands in the Columbia River is dominated by
lupine (Lupinus spp.), arrowleaf buckwheat (Eriogonum compositum), and
absinthium [9].
Absinthium occurs with western snowberry (Symphoricarpos
occidentalis) in moist ravines in Saskatchewan [18].
MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS
SPECIES: Artemisia absinthium
IMPORTANCE TO LIVESTOCK AND WILDLIFE :
Canada geese use absinthium for nesting cover on Columbia River
islands but prefer lupine and willow (Salix spp.) [9].
PALATABILITY :
Absinthium is unpalatable to fairly palatable to cattle [15,28].
Palatability is listed as poor for horses and good for sheep [28].
NUTRITIONAL VALUE :
Absinthium energy and protein values are listed as fair [28].
COVER VALUE :
NO-ENTRY
VALUE FOR REHABILITATION OF DISTURBED SITES :
NO-ENTRY
OTHER USES AND VALUES :
Absinthium is a medicinal herb often planted in gardens.
Absinthal, a volatile oil produced from absinthium flowerheads,
was used in French liquors until prohibited in 1915 because of its toxic
and addictive effects [8].
OTHER MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS :
Absinthium is considered a weed in pastureland, cropland, and
rangeland in the northern Great Plains [14,15]. Although it spreads
rapidly on disturbed sites, it is easily controlled by herbicides and/or
vigorous competition from grasses [14]. Picloram provides the most
rapid and complete control of absinthium, but dicamba, 2,4-D, and
glyphosate are also effective. Application techniques are described
[14,15].
Absinthium, which contains the sesquiterpene lactone absinthin,
can be toxic to other plants in its vicinity. Studies of its effect on
the germination of other plants are inconclusive [15]. Although absinth
wormwood leaf extracts inhibited the germination of needle-and-thread
grass (Hesperostipa comata), they stimulated the germination of green
needlegrass (S. viridula) [10].
Absinthium taints milk when eaten by cows [14].
BOTANICAL AND ECOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS
SPECIES: Artemisia absinthium
GENERAL BOTANICAL CHARACTERISTICS :
Absinthium is a nonnative, long-lived, fragrant, perennial herb
that grows each year from a woody base. An individual plant has 20 or
more stems each growing 1.3 to 4.9 feet (0.4-1.5 m) tall. The fruit is
a cypsela without a pappus. The well-developed root system consists of
a taproot occasionally reaching 2 inches (5 cm) in diameter with shallow
lateral branches extending 6 feet in all directions [18]. Absinth
wormwood may be weakly rhizomatous [14,27]. The roots lack the
interxylary bark of some Artemisia spp. which protects the roots from
desiccation [15].
RAUNKIAER LIFE FORM :
Hemicryptophyte
REGENERATION PROCESSES :
Absinthium reproduces primarily by seed and is a prolific seed
producer [15,18,24]. Although the small seeds do not have any specific
morphological provision for dispersal, they are easily scattered in hay
and by wind, water, and animals. The seeds retain their viability for 3
to 4 years [15]. Viable absinthium seeds have been found in the
soil of undisturbed prairie grasslands in North Dakota [11].
Germination rates were measured under various pretreatment and
photoperiod conditions. Germination was best on moist soils. It
occurred over a wide range of temperatures between 41 and 104 degrees
Fahrenheit (5-40 deg C) [15].
Absinthium invades extreme northern environments during warm
periods but may not reproduce successfully. Absinthium was
present in northeastern Manitoba in 1989 but had not produced seeds when
observed in late summer [20].
Maw and others [15] and Staniforth and Scott [20] did not find any
evidence of vegetative reproduction by absinthium. However,
Selleck and Coupland [18] suggested that absinthium may regenerate
from shallow lateral root branches when plowed. Welsh and others [27]
reported that absinthium has a rhizomatous caudex, and Lym and
others [14] stated that absinthium may spread by rootstock.
SITE CHARACTERISTICS :
Absinthium grows on disturbed sites such as along fencelines and
roadsides, on borrow pits and gravel piles, and on overgrazed pastures
and fields recently abandoned from cultivation [15].
Absinthium grows on a variety of soils from gravels to clay loams
[15]. It grows on gravelly soils in Glacier National Park [13], and on
a cobble-gravel substratum on the upstream portion of Columbia River
islands where sand is washed away each spring during high water [8].
Absinthium grows best in moist habitats. During drought it dies
out on coarse, gravelly soils but survives in ravines and on north-facing
slopes [15,18].
Absinthium occurs from 5,000 to 7,000 feet (1,500-2,100 m)
elevation in Colorado [28].
SUCCESSIONAL STATUS :
Absinthium colonizes open, disturbed sites. Establishment is
minimal where there is a closed grass stand [15]. Absinthium
seedlings which germinated in an ungrazed stand of needle-and-thread
grass did not survive [18].
Absinthe wormwood tolerates some shade [15]. It was found growing
vigorously within a tree plantation with approximately 60 percent crown
cover [18].
SEASONAL DEVELOPMENT :
Absinthium growth begins in early spring and flowerstalks are
produced by mid-July [15]. Absinthium flowers July through
September [3,15,28]. In North Dakota, absinthium began flowering
the second week of August [22]. Seeds mature in early fall. Seedlings
emerge from early spring to August whenever moisture and warmth are
available. Rosettes form by the end of the first growing season [15].
FIRE ECOLOGY
SPECIES: Artemisia absinthium
FIRE ECOLOGY OR ADAPTATIONS :
Although top-killed by fire, absinthium probably reestablishes
after fire by sprouting from undamaged perennating buds [21] or
regenerating from buried seed.
FIRE REGIMES :
Find fire regime information for the plant communities in which this
species may occur by entering the species name in the FEIS home page under
"Find Fire Regimes".
POSTFIRE REGENERATION STRATEGY :
Caudex, growing points in soil
Ground residual colonizer (on-site, initial community)
FIRE EFFECTS
SPECIES: Artemisia absinthium
IMMEDIATE FIRE EFFECT ON PLANT :
Low-severity fire readily top-kills absinthium and may completely
kill some plants. Because absinthium perennating buds are at or
near the soil surface, they are susceptible to fire [21].
DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF FIRE EFFECT :
NO-ENTRY
PLANT RESPONSE TO FIRE :
Absinthium perennating buds will sprout if they survive fire.
Annual early spring prescribed fires were conducted in a South Dakota
prairie infested with absinthium. Dormant fine fuels ranged from
2,000 to 2,400 kilograms per hectare. Nearly two-thirds of the absinth
wormwood survived the first fire and regrew, but four consecutive annual
spring fires reduced absinthium by 96 percent [21].
DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF PLANT RESPONSE :
NO-ENTRY
FIRE MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS :
Spring fire can reduce absinthium on northern mixed prairie sites
during years with adequate fuel. However, abundant green herbaceous
material can reduce fire severity during the spring and thus reduce fire
damage to absinthium [21].
REFERENCES
SPECIES: Artemisia absinthium
REFERENCES :
1. Bernard, Stephen R.; Brown, Kenneth F. 1977. Distribution of mammals,
reptiles, and amphibians by BLM physiographic regions and A.W. Kuchler's
associations for the eleven western states. Tech. Note 301. Denver, CO:
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[434]
2. Boivin, Bernard. 1972. The flora of the Prairie Provinces: Part III
(continued). Phytologia. 23(1): 1-140. [23836]
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northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. 2nd ed. New York: New
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Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas. 1392 p. [1603]
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some common and uncommon herbs. Horticulture. 54(3): 52-63. [3025]
9. Hanson, W. C.; Eberhardt, L. L. 1971. A Columbia River Canada goose
population, 1950-1970. Wildlife Monographs No. 28. Washington, DC: The
Wildlife Society. 61 p. [18164]
10. Hoffman, G. R.; Hazlett, D. L. 1977. Effects of aqueous Artemisia
extracts and volatile substances on germination of selected species.
Journal of Range Management. 30(2): 134-137. [23850]
11. Iverson, Louis R.; Wali, Mohan K. 1982. Buried, viable seeds and their
relation to revegetation after surface mining. Journal of Range
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of the conterminous United States. Special Publication No. 36. New York:
American Geographical Society. 77 p. [1384]
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plant record and the increase of exotic plants in Glacier National Park,
Montana. Madrono. 40(2): 126-131. [21049]
14. Lym, Rodney G.; Messersmith, Calvin G.; Dexter, Alan G. 1984. Absinth
wormwood control. W-838. Fargo, ND: North Dakota State University,
Cooperative Expernsion Service. 2 p. In cooperation with: U.S.
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Rocky Mountain forests. Unpublished draft on file at: U.S. Department of
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weeds in annual crops of Manitoba. Canadian Journal of Plant Science.
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of the U.S.--alphabetical listing. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of
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FEIS Home Page
https://www.fs.usda.gov/database/feis/plants/forb/artabs/all.html
