Artemisia douglasiana
California mugwort
Family AsteraceaeAlso called Douglas's sagewort, dream plant
About
California mugwort is an aromatic, spreading perennial of western North America, important in Native American medicine and ceremony.
Care at a glance
- Pet safety
- Not recorded. We have no source on whether this plant is safe for cats, dogs or other pets — that is not the same as safe. Keep it out of reach until you have checked.
- People
- Not recorded.
- Light
- Prefers direct sun; tolerates shade.
- Water
- Prefers moist soil; tolerates dry conditions.
- Soil
- Fine to coarse soils at least 16 cm deep for the rhizomes.
- Propagation
- Mainly by division of the spreading rhizomes; also from seed.
- Mature size
- 0.5–2.5 m tall.
- Hardiness
- USDA zones 6a–10b.
Field notes
Morphology
Perennial forb whose erect stems, 0.5–2.5 m tall, rise from a colony of rhizomes. Evenly spaced grey-green elliptic leaves have three to five lobes at the tip, from barely visible to deep. Bell-shaped clusters of small flowers appear from May to October.
Distribution & habitat
California, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon and Washington and northwestern Baja California, from sea level to about 3,080 m, often along ditches and stream banks.
Ecology
Native birds eat the seeds and some native bees use the leaves for nesting. It spreads mainly by rhizomes, though it can set seed.
Cultivation notes
Grown by contemporary herbalists. Prefers sun and moist soil but tolerates shade and dryness; hardy in zones 6a–10b. Mostly propagated by division.
History & etymology
Used by Native American tribes for joint pain, headaches, skin rashes including poison ivy, and women's health, and carried or smoked for ceremonial purposes and to induce vivid dreams.
Habitat
- Altitude
- Not recorded
- Altitude class
- —
- Native to
- United States, Mexico
Cultivation
- Difficulty
- Not recorded
Text adapted from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
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