Artemisia absinthium L.
Eng.: Absinthe wormwood. Spa.: Ajenjo, absenta. Fre.: Absinthe. Ara.: Chiba, chiba chmaymiya, chedjret meriem, chaïbet el adjuz, chiba qorocani, chih qoracani, degna ech cheik. Tam.: Siba, chiba.
Evergreen subshrub, hermaphrodite, up to 1 m in height, white-sericeous. Stems with slightly lignified base, erect, sparsely branched. Branches ± erect. Leaves alternate, densely arranged, up to 10 cm long, 2-3 pinnatisect, with white-sericeous indumentum, punctate-glandular, with lobes 5-20 × (1)2-4(6) mm, oblong-lanceolate; lower leaves longly petiolate; leaves halfway on the stems auriculate; upper leaves sessile. Inflorescence in terminal panicles, with ± applied branches, with simple or trilobed leaves. Capitula 3-4 mm in diameter, hemispherical, with 40-80 flowers and densely hairy receptacle. Involucre with several rows of herbaceous bracts, tomentose, with scarious margin; outer bracts oblong; inner bracts ovate. Flowers yellow; peripheral florets filiform and feminine; the rest of the flowers in disc florets and hermaphrodite, glabrous. Fruit a small obovoid achene, not glandular.
Flowering:
May to July.
Fruiting:
June to August.
Habitat:
Forests, thickets and ± ruderal areas, in clayey soils, between 1,200-2,300 m.
Distribution:
Europe, SW Asia and North Africa. In North Africa it is found in Morocco, in the NE Middle Atlas (Bu-Iblan, Jebel Ramouz, between Ouaizaght and El-Ksiba) and the eastern plateaux (Tamalout) and, in Algeria, in the Tellian Atlas (Djurdjura Massif and Mount Babors).
Observations:
This species is widely cultivated (“chiba”) to flavour tea, and it seems to escape from cultivation in some areas. In the Livre Rouge de la flore vasculaire du Maroc (Fennane, 2021) it has been considered as Endangered (EN).
Conservation status:
Rare but widely distributed species. Currently, it has not been assessed at a global level in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
