Artemisia afra
Artemisia afra
Safety & Hazards
None known
Cultivation Details
A plant of drier areas in the subtropics and tropics, where it is found at elevations up to 3,000 metres. It grows best in areas where annual daytime temperatures are within the range 22 - 30°c, but can tolerate 12 - 35°c[1]. It prefers growing in areas with a distinct dry season and a mean annual rainfall in the range 550 - 750mm, but tolerates 400 - 900mm[1]. Requires a position in full sun in a well-drained, fertile, light to medium soil[2, 1]. Prefers a pH in the range 5.5 - 6, tolerating 5 - 7[1]. The plant has a strong, sticky sweet smell that it exudes when touched or cut[2]. Heavy pruning in the dormant season encourages plenty of new lush growth[2]. A fast-growing plant, established shrubs are very tough and will slowly spread to form thicker clumps[2].
Propagation
Seed - Division. Cuttings normally root easily[2]. Cite as: Tropical Plants Database, Ken Fern. tropical.theferns.info. 2026-02-19. <tropical.theferns.info/viewtropical.php?id=Artemisia+afra>
Pollinators
Data unavailable
References
- [1]Ecocrop — http://ecocrop.fao.org/ecocrop/srv/en/home ↩︎Basic information on a wide range of useful plants, plus details of environmental needs where available.
- [2]PlantZAfrica.com — http://www.plantzafrica.com ↩︎An excellent site giving detailed descriptions and uses of many S. African plants.
- [3]African Flowering Plants Database — Conservatoire et Jardin Botaniques. · http://www.ville-ge.ch/musinfo/bd/cjb/africa/recherche.php ↩︎Contains information on over 150,000 plant names (including synonyms) giving a description and habitat, plus a distribution map.
- [4]Dictionary of Economic Plants. — Uphof. J. C. Th. · Weinheim · 1959 · ISBN - ↩︎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.