Griersson & Spring.
Description
Artemisia bhutanica is a perennial herbaceous species endemic or near-endemic to Bhutan, where it inhabits warm-temperate and subtropical forest margins, roadsides, and disturbed slopes at elevations of approximately 1,200–2,500 m. The species is recorded from the central valleys of Bhutan, including the Trongsa district at around 1,800 m, where it has been photographed flowering in October. With only nine occurrence records documented in GBIF, all confined to Bhutan, the species appears to have a highly restricted distribution and is one of the lesser-known members of this large, cosmopolitan genus in the eastern Himalayan region.
The plant forms erect to ascending, somewhat woody-based stems 40–100 cm tall, branching in the upper portion. The leaves are alternate, deeply pinnatisect to bipinnatisect, with narrowly linear to filiform segments, greyish-green above and more densely tomentose beneath with appressed T-shaped trichomes characteristic of the genus. The capitula are small, nodding, ovoid to subglobose, 2–3 mm in diameter, arranged in lax, paniculate synflorescences. Each capitulum contains few tubular florets; the outer florets are pistillate and the inner ones bisexual. The involucral bracts are imbricate, scarious-margined. Achenes are minute, obovoid, and glabrous.
Artemisia bhutanica was described by Grierson and Springate in the Flora of Bhutan and represents part of the considerable Artemisia diversity in the eastern Himalayas. Its taxonomic placement within the genus requires further molecular study, as morphological boundaries among eastern Himalayan Artemisia species can be unclear. Given its extremely limited documented range and low number of collections, A. bhutanica may warrant conservation assessment, particularly as road construction and land-use change continue to alter warm-temperate habitats in Bhutan's central valleys.
Author: Griersson & Spring. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Grierson & Long: Flora of Bhutan Vol. 2 (2001)