Ferula communis & Artemisia arborescens - Description and photo

Tree wormwood. A shrub of the Asteraceae family, Tree wormwood is native to the western and central Mediterranean basin: Maghreb, Iberian Peninsula, Mediterranean islands — Corsica, Sardinia, Sicily, Crete — and the coasts of Italy and Greece.

It colonizes open garrigues, degraded maquis, coastal cliffs, rocky wastelands, and dry embankments, on poor and well-drained substrates, in full sun exposure. It is a low-altitude species, typically coastal or sub-coastal.

It forms a bushy and branched shrub, reaching 1 to 2 meters in height, with a rounded and airy habit. Its most striking feature is its foliage: very finely cut, silvery white to bright gray-blue, covered with a silky and dense tomentum that gives it an almost metallic sheen under the Mediterranean light.

The flowers are gathered in small globular heads, pale yellow to sulfur yellow, arranged in long, slender, and branched panicles that rise above the foliage. In its natural environment, its flowering extends from May to July. In cultivation, it occurs at the same dates depending on the exposure.

The foliage emits a powerful, camphor-like and slightly bitter aroma, characteristic of Wormwoods, noticeable as soon as a leaf is crushed.

In cultivation, it requires a very drained, dry, poor soil, in full sun; it withstands summer drought well and tolerates sea spray. It is not very hardy in cold climates and deserves a sheltered exposure beyond the Mediterranean zone.