MEDICINAL AND AROMATIC CROPS (2+1)

Description of the plant

Photo courtesy: L.Hegde
A. annua is an annual, determinate, erect herb with a very slender and glabrous stem. The branches are deeply grooved, the leaves are broad. The heads are 2 mm in diameter, subglobose, secured in very slender panicle racemes, pedicle is pendulous, the inner orbicular is green and shiny with a scarious margin.

Varieties
A. annua is a highly cross pollinated crop. Hence, the crop exhibits a large variation. The CIMAP, Lucknow, has developed a variety called ’Asha’ through mass selection and this variety is recommended for cultivation. Jeevanraksha and Suraksha are the other two varieties recently released from CIMAP, Lucknow.