Artemisia apiacea (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Artemisia apiacea Hance

Protologue: Walp., Ann. bot. syst. 2: 895 (1852).

Vernacular names

• Vietnam: rau bao, thanh cao, thảo cao.

Distribution

India, Indo-China, China, Korea, Mongolia and Japan.

Uses

In Vietnam and China, the aerial plant parts are considered febrifuge, haemostatic, tonic and stomachic and prescribed to treat tuberculosis, malaria, epistaxis, anorexia and neurasthenia, and externally to treat furuncles, haemorrhoids and dermatosis.

Observations

• A branched annual or biennial herb up to 150 cm tall.
• Leaves bipinnatifid, up to 15 cm long, with pectinately dentate lanceolate to linear, 1.5-2 mm wide segments, glabrous.
• Heads in panicles, 4-6 mm long.
• Central flowers bisexual, corolla pale yellowish.
• Fruit obovoid, nearly 1 mm long, glabrous.

A. apiacea is often found along rivers.

Selected sources

• Nguyen Van Duong, 1993. Medicinal plants of Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. Mekong Printing, Santa Ana, California, United States. 528 pp.
• Perry, L.M., 1980. Medicinal plants of East and Southeast Asia. Attributed properties and uses. MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States & London, United Kingdom. 620 pp.
• Pham Hoang Ho, 1991-1993. An illustrated flora of Vietnam. 3 volumes. Mekong Publisher, Montreal, Canada.

Main genus page

• Artemisia (Medicinal plants)

Authors

• Nguyen Tien Ban, Vu Xuan Phuong & Charles B. Lugt