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Artemisia dracunculoides - Pursh.

Russian Tarragon

Author	Pursh.	Botanical references	43, 235
Family	Compositae	Genus	Artemisia
Synonyms
Known Hazards	Although no reports of toxicity have been seen for this species, skin contact with some members of this genus can cause dermatitis or other allergic reactions in some people[222].
Range	N. America. N. Europe. N. Asia - Siberia.
Habitat	Prairies, plains and dry slopes[43].
Edibility Rating	2 (1-5)	Medicinal Rating	1 (1-5)

Physical Characteristics

Perennial growing to 1m by 0.5m.

The plant prefers light (sandy) and medium (loamy) soils and requires well-drained soil. The plant prefers acid, neutral and basic (alkaline) soils. It can grow in semi-shade (light woodland) or no shade. It requires dry or moist soil and can tolerate drought.

Habitats

Meadow; Cultivated Beds;

Edible Uses

Edible Parts: Leaves; Seed.

Leaves - raw or cooked[46, 61, 105, 161]. The N. American Indians would bake the leaves between hot stones and then eat them with salt water[183, 216]. The leaves can also be eaten raw in salads but are inferior to A. dracunculus (Tarragon)[183]. The flavour is said to improve as the plant matures[200, 268]. Seed - raw or cooked. An oily texture[46, 61, 161, 183]. The seed is very small and fiddly to use[K].

Medicinal Uses

Antiscorbutic; Diuretic; Emmenagogue; Hypnotic; Stomachic.

The herb is antiscorbutic, diuretic, emmenagogue, hypnotic and stomachic[21, 46, 179]. The fresh herb is eaten to promote the appetite[268].

Other Uses

Repellent.

Both the growing and the dried plant repels insects[99].

Cultivation details

Easily grown in a well-drained circumneutral or slightly alkaline loamy soil, preferring a sunny position[1, 200]. Established plants are drought tolerant[200]. Plants are longer lived, more hardy and more aromatic when they are grown in a poor dry soil[245]. Nomenclature is somewhat confused for this species. It is considered by some botanists to be a hardier form of A. dracunculus but with an inferior flavour[4, 200], whilst some consider it to be part of A. glauca[43]. It is very similar to A. dracunculus, but is more vigorous and hardier, Its leaves have a pungent and less pleasant flavour than that species[238]. Members of this genus are rarely if ever troubled by browsing deer[233].

Propagation

Seed - surface sow from late winter to early summer in a greenhouse. When large enough to handle, prick the seedlings out into individual pots and plant them out in the summer. Division in spring or autumn. Very easy, the divisions can be planted out direct into their permanent positions f required. Basal cuttings in late spring. Harvest the shoots when 10 - 15cm long, pot them up in a greenhouse and plant out when well rooted. Very easy.

Links

Permaculture.info Details of this plant in the Permaculture.info project, a community plant and permaculture database.

References

[K] Ken Fern
Notes from observations, tasting etc at Plants For A Future and on field trips.

[1] F. Chittendon. RHS Dictionary of Plants plus Supplement. 1956 Oxford University Press 1951
Comprehensive listing of species and how to grow them. Somewhat outdated, it has been replaces in 1992 by a new dictionary (see [200]).

[4] Grieve. A Modern Herbal. Penguin 1984 ISBN 0-14-046-440-9
Not so modern (1930's?) but lots of information, mainly temperate plants.

[21] Lust. J. The Herb Book. Bantam books 1983 ISBN 0-553-23827-2
Lots of information tightly crammed into a fairly small book.

[43] Fernald. M. L. Gray's Manual of Botany. American Book Co. 1950
A bit dated but good and concise flora of the eastern part of N. America.

[46] Uphof. J. C. Th. Dictionary of Economic Plants. Weinheim 1959
An excellent and very comprehensive guide but it only gives very short descriptions of the uses without any details of how to utilize the plants. Not for the casual reader.

[61] Usher. G. A Dictionary of Plants Used by Man. Constable 1974 ISBN 0094579202
Forget the sexist title, this is one of the best books on the subject. Lists a very extensive range of useful plants from around the world with very brief details of the uses. Not for the casual reader.

[99] Turner. N. J. Plants in British Columbian Indian Technology. British Columbia Provincial Museum 1979 ISBN 0-7718-8117-7
Excellent and readable guide.

[105] Tanaka. T. Tanaka's Cyclopaedia of Edible Plants of the World. Keigaku Publishing 1976
The most comprehensive guide to edible plants I've come across. Only the briefest entry for each species, though, and some of the entries are more than a little dubious. Not for the casual reader.

[161] Yanovsky. E. Food Plants of the N. American Indians. Publication no. 237. U.S. Depf of Agriculture. 0
A comprehensive but very terse guide. Not for the casual reader.

[179] Reid. B. E. Famine Foods of the Chiu-Huang Pen-ts'ao. Taipei. Southern Materials Centre 1977
A translation of an ancient Chinese book on edible wild foods. Fascinating.

[183] Facciola. S. Cornucopia - A Source Book of Edible Plants. Kampong Publications 1990 ISBN 0-9628087-0-9
Excellent. Contains a very wide range of conventional and unconventional food plants (including tropical) and where they can be obtained (mainly N. American nurseries but also research institutes and a lot of other nurseries from around the world.

[200] Huxley. A. The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992. MacMillan Press 1992 ISBN 0-333-47494-5
Excellent and very comprehensive, though it contains a number of silly mistakes. Readable yet also very detailed.

[216] Whiting. A. F. Ethnobotany of the Hopi North Arizona Society of Science and Art 1939
A very good guide the the plant uses of the N. American Hopi Indians.

[222] Foster. S. & Duke. J. A. A Field Guide to Medicinal Plants. Eastern and Central N. America. Houghton Mifflin Co. 1990 ISBN 0395467225
A concise book dealing with almost 500 species. A line drawing of each plant is included plus colour photographs of about 100 species. Very good as a field guide, it only gives brief details about the plants medicinal properties.

[233] Thomas. G. S. Perennial Garden Plants J. M. Dent & Sons, London. 1990 ISBN 0 460 86048 8
A concise guide to a wide range of perennials. Lots of cultivation guides, very little on plant uses.

[235] Britton. N. L. Brown. A. An Illustrated Flora of the Northern United States and Canada Dover Publications. New York. 1970 ISBN 0-486-22642-5
Reprint of a 1913 Flora, but still a very useful book.

[238] Bown. D. Encyclopaedia of Herbs and their Uses. Dorling Kindersley, London. 1995 ISBN 0-7513-020-31
A very well presented and informative book on herbs from around the globe. Plenty in it for both the casual reader and the serious student. Just one main quibble is the silly way of having two separate entries for each plant.

[245] Genders. R. Scented Flora of the World. Robert Hale. London. 1994 ISBN 0-7090-5440-8
An excellent, comprehensive book on scented plants giving a few other plant uses and brief cultivation details. There are no illustrations.

[268] Stuart. M. (Editor) The Encyclopedia of Herbs and Herbalism Orbis Publishing. London. 1979 ISBN 0-85613-067-2
Excellent herbal with good concise information on over 400 herbs.

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