Asteraceae FAMILY Least Concern

Artemisia umbelliformis

Edibility

3/5

Medicinal

2/5

Safety & Hazards

Although we have seen no specific reports for this species, many members of this genus contain potentially allergenic sesquiterpene lactones that can cause skin reactions[ 407 Title BoDD (Botanical Dermatology Database) Publication Author Website http://bodd.cf.ac.uk/ Publisher Year 0 ISBN Description Brief notes on a very wide range of plants that have reports of causing harm to the skin. ].

Botanical Description

Artemisia umbelliformis is an aromatic, herbaceous perennial plant with a branched, woody rootstock. The plant forms a mat of low, sterile stems and one to several flowering stems around 25cm tallp200]. An important alpine plant, much harvested from the wild and used to make flavoured beverages, including the highly prized Alpine liqueur known as 'Genepi' which is of considerable commercial importance. Due to its rarity and high cost, the plant it is cultivated in the Alps of Italy, France and Switzerland for its essential oil and for use as a cosmetic[ 338 Title IUCN Red List of Threatened Species Publication Author Website http://www.iucnredlist.org/ Publisher Year 0 ISBN Description A list of plants under threat and facing possible extinction, usually with brief details of the threats and information on habitat. ]. Artemisia umbelliformis is a naturally rare Alpine plant which has undergone declines as a result of indiscriminate picking for its use in the production of the liquor 'Genepi'. Its collection is now prohibited in Switzerland and Italy, but continues in France on a regulated level. It is widely cultivated within these regions for liquor production (except in southern France where it is still collected), which has relieved collection pressure on wild populations and thereby is preventing further declines. Its status in other countries within its range is more uncertain; there is a lack of information on the population and distribution in the Carpathian and Balkan mountains. Given its broad distribution and the protection measures currently in place across parts of its range (precisely in the regions where collection has been most well-documented), the plant is provisionally listed as Least Concern. However, if its population is small and collection pressure is high across its range, and given its increased rarity, it may warrant listing in a higher category of threat. The plant is classified as 'Least Concern' in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species(2013)[ 338 Title IUCN Red List of Threatened Species Publication Author Website http://www.iucnredlist.org/ Publisher Year 0 ISBN Description A list of plants under threat and facing possible extinction, usually with brief details of the threats and information on habitat. ].

Habitat & Origin

Origintemperate

Native RangeEurope - mountainour regions of Poland, Romania, France, Spain, Italy, through the Balkans to Greece

HabitatMountain rocks, moraines and river gravels[ 50 Title Flora Europaea Publication Author ? Publisher Cambridge University Press Year 1964 ISBN - Description An immense work in 6 volumes (including the index). The standard reference flora for Europe, it is very terse though and with very little extra information. Not for the casual reader. ]. Alpine grassland, gravelly plateaus, rocks and stabilized screes on limestone, rocky crevices, granite, often mylonitized granite, flysch and serpentine; at an elevation from 1,900 - 2,800 metres[ 338 Title IUCN Red List of Threatened Species Publication Author Website http://www.iucnredlist.org/ Publisher Year 0 ISBN Description A list of plants under threat and facing possible extinction, usually with brief details of the threats and information on habitat. ].