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.
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.