page_title: Artemisia herba-alba
section_title: Botanical description
hierarchical_section_title: Artemisia herba-alba / Botanical description
caption_attribution_description: Artemisia herba-alba (Family&#160;: Compositae)
context_page_description: Artemisia herba-alba, the white wormwood, is a perennial shrub in the genus Artemisia that grows commonly on the dry steppes of the Mediterranean regions in Northern Africa, Western Asia and Southwestern Europe. It is used as an antiseptic and antispasmodic in herbal medicine.
context_section_description: Artemisia herba-alba is a chamaeophyte that grows to 20–40 cm (8–16 in). Leaves are strongly aromatic and covered with fine glandular hairs that reflect sunlight giving a grayish aspect to the shrub. The leaves of sterile shoots are grey, petiolate, ovate to orbicular in outline; whereas, the leaves of flowering stems, more abundant in winter, are much smaller.
  The flowering heads are sessile, oblong and tapering at base. The plant flowers from September to December. The receptacle is naked with 2–5 yellowish hermaphrodite flowers per head.
caption: Artemisia herba-alba, the 'white wormwood,' in garden
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