Artemisia austriaca Jacq. (E and C-Eur., As.) – A very rare, formerly locally naturalised alien, possibly a garden escape. Discovered in 1944 in Braine l’Alleud (Sart Moulin) along a talus close to the railway station (on a stony, dry, sun-exposed site). Subsequently extending to nearby old walls and wasteland. This population was last confirmed in 1957 and probably little later destroyed as a result of infrastructural works.
The unique Belgian population was originally identified as Artemisia maritima var. pseudogallica (Rouy) J. Duvigneaud et Lambinon, a rare coastal taxon (and very unlikely to occur as an alien further inland).
Artemisia austriaca is here treated in a broad sense. Some recent authors segregate Artemisia repens Willd. (see for instance Grulich 2004).
Selected literature:
Feráková V. (1997) Artemisia austriaca – druh kritický z karyotaxonomického hľadiska. Preslia 69: 95-113.
Grulich V. (2004) Artemisia. In: Slavík B. & Štĕpánková (eds.), Kvĕtena České Republiky, vol. 7. Academia, Praha: 163-185.
Korneck D. (1990a) Der Österreichische Beifuß (Artemisia austriaca Jacq.) im nördlichen Oberrheingebiet. Hess. Flor. Briefe 39(3): 37-41.
Korneck D. (1990b) Artemisia austriaca Jacq. bei Bamberg. Ber. Bayer. Bot. Ges. 61: 329.