Artemisia santonicum

Saline wormwood is a herbaceous perennial plant or subshrub growing to 20–60 cm tall. It has strongly aromatic foliage, usually greyish-green to whitish-green, but can become glabrous green with wear. The leaves are deeply twice to thrice pinnatifid, with narrow, linear segments 0.7–1 mm broad, and are covered on both sides with a dense coat of white hairs. The small, oblong flower heads are 1–2 mm diameter, are of a yellowish or brownish tint; they are produced in September to October, and are arranged in racemes, sometimes drooping, sometimes erect.^[3]

It has often been erroneously reported as the closely related north European Artemisia maritima.^[4]

It occurs on saline soils, being found on the drier parts of saltmarshes, brackish ditches, saltpans, sea cliffs, and coastal shingle.

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  Foliage. Dried-out small salt lake near Neusiedl am See, Burgenland, Austria.
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  Flowers; erect form. Same site as left.
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  Flowers; drooping form. Same site as left.