Green in Winter: Beach Wormwood

Artemisia caudata is common and abundant in dry sand, and while native, it is generally unloved and overlooked. A biennial or short-lived perennial, it produces an attractive rosette the first year, then sends up a tall, leafy flowering stalk after that. The flowers are not showy, and this is possibly why the plant is so often overlooked. It's really an attractive plant and I hope to demonstrate this with a photo set this summer. Beach Wormwood is a common host to the parasitic Orobanche fascicularis, so remember to watch the sand around the base of the plant!

Photographed in Porter County, Indiana on February 4, 2012.