Artemisia abrotanum has been widely cultivated in gardens for old-time uses such as a fly and parasite repellent. It has had a renewed popularity in xeriscape gardening; it is drought tolerant and can fill difficult garden spaces (e.g., dry rocky slopes). Reports of naturalization may be exaggerated; it is not known to become weedy in any of its known locations in North America.
Perennial and ±shrubby, 0.5-2 m, much branched; lvs 3-6 cm, thinly tomentose beneath, green and glabrous or nearly so above, 2-3 times pinnatifid with elongate,
linear or filiform, ascending segments 0.5-1.5 mm wide; infl ample; invol 2-3.5 mm; achenes 4-5-angled, broadest at the truncate summit; 2n=18. Roadsides and waste places; native of the Old World, cult. and sparingly established throughout much of the U.S., especially toward the ne. Aug., Sept.
Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.