Artemisia japonica subsp. japonica var. japonica("Otokoyomogi")
Japanese name: オトコヨモギ（男蓬） Scientific name:Artemisia japonica subsp. japonica var. japonica
[Overview]
A perennial 40–140 cm tall, found in sunny places in hills to mountains.
The whole plant is almost hairless, and the stems grow in clusters.
Non-flowering stems bear leaves in a rosette.
The leaves on the flower stalk are alternate, oblong-obovate to spatulate-wedge-shaped, and highly variable: the tip may be 3-lobed or pinnately cut, and occasionally the leaf is entire and undivided.
The bases of the leaves on the flower stalk clasp the stem.
The basal leaves have withered by the flowering season.
A large panicle at the stem tip bears many flower heads.
The flower heads are ovoid-spherical to oblong-spherical, 2 mm long and 1.5 mm wide, with no ray florets.
The involucral bracts are arranged in 4 overlapping rows like roof tiles.
It is wind-pollinated.
The fruit is an oblong achene 0.8 mm long and hairless.
[Uses]
The leaves are called boko and are used medicinally.
[Notes]
The Japanese name is a translation of boko; it is said that because the seeds are so small, they were thought to be absent, and so the plant was called "male" (boku).
