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ARTEMISIA caerulescens.
Blueish Mu&Owort.
SYNGENESIA Polygamia-superflua.
G en. C har. Recept. naked or downy. Seed-down
none. Cal. imbricated* the scales roundish and
closed. Florets o f the radius awlshaped, undivided.
.
Spec. C har. Leaves hoary; those of the stem lanceolate
and undivided; the lower ones variously
divided. Flowers erect* cylindrical. Receptacle
naked.
Syn. Artemisia caerulescens. Linn. Sp. PI. 1189.
Sm. FI. Brit. 866. Huds. 359. With. 711. Hull,
ed. 2. 238.
A . marina. Ger. em. 1104.
Absinthium maritimum* lavendulae folio. Bauh.
P in. 139. Moris, sect. 6 . t. 1 . ƒ . 5. JDuham.
Arb. v. 1. 24. t. 7.
T h a t no plant, asserted by any good authority to be a
British native, may be wanting in this work, we are obliged
to delineate a garden specimen of this* very expressively called
by old writers Lavender-leaved Mugwort or Wormwood.
Mr. Tofield assured his friend Hudson that it grew wild near
Boston in Lincolnshire; which might very well be, as it is not
uncommon on the sea shores of the milder climates of Europe.
Gerarde says it grows in the isle of Wight; yet no botanist
ha's recently found it in Britain. Mr. Tofield might mistake
some variety of maritima, t. 1706, or gallica, t. 1001, for
this ; yet if the plants be compared, such an error seems very
unlikely, especially as the ccerulescens is well known to most
botanists.
Its glaucous hoary hue, leaves for the most part simple,
lanceolate, bluntish and entire, of a considerable breadth, the
lowermost only being lobed or pirinatifid, strongly mark the
species. The flowers are abundant in August and September,
and stand erect. The receptacle is naked and very minute.