Artemisia arbuscula
Artemisia serrata
black sagebrush, dwarf sagebrush, little sagebrush, low sagebrush
sawtooth wormwood, serrate-leaf sage
gray-green to brown, glabrate (diffusely branched from bases, brittle).
2–5, erect, brown, mostly simple (bases woody), sparsely tomentose.
(vegetative stems) persistent, gray-green;
blades broadly to narrowly cuneate, 3–10 × 2–5 mm, lobed (lobes 3, oblong-linear, to 1/3 blade lengths, mostly 1–3 mm wide, flat, obtuse, laterals sometimes 2–3-fid; leaves on flowering stems deciduous, blades narrowly cuneate, deeply 3-lobed), faces densely hairy (not sticky resinous).
cauline, bicolor (white and green);
blades lanceolate, 7–15 × 1–2.5 cm, serrate (teeth ca. 2 mm), faces densely tomentose (abaxial) or glabrate (adaxial).
campanulate or globose-ovoid, (1.5–)2–4(–5) × 1.5–4.5 mm.
campanulate, 2.5–3 × 2–2.5 mm.
4–6(–10);
corollas 1.5–2 mm, glabrous.
pistillate 3–5;
bisexual 9–10;
corollas pale yellow, 1.5–2 mm, sparsely glandular.
(margins green) ovate (outer) to oblong, pubescent or tomentose.
lanceolate (margins hyaline), densely tomentose.
usually borne singly, rarely (1–4, erect, mostly sessile, in pedunculate clusters) in spiciform or paniculiform arrays 2–9 × 0.5–2 cm (branches slender).
(peduncles 0 or to 2 mm) in racemiform arrays 10–15 × 5–15 cm.
(light brown) 0.7–0.8 mm, resinous.
ellipsoid, ca. 1 mm, glabrous.
= 36.
Artemisia arbuscula
Artemisia serrata
Subspecies 3 (3 in the flora).
Artemisia arbuscula is one of the more perplexing species in the Tridentatae complex. Anatomic and morphologic characteristics suggest multiple hybrid origins for the subspecies. Deciduous leaves of flowering stems in plants that otherwise have persistent leaves suggest a hybrid origin involving plants of the A. tridentata and A. cana lineages. In most instances, populations of A. arbuscula appear to be reproductively stable. The disposition of Artemisia arbuscula subsp. longicaulis Winward & McArthur (with 2n = 54) has not been determined.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Artemisia serrata is closely related to A. ludoviciana and A. longifolia; it is distinguished by its prominent, serrated leaf margins. It is apparently native to the upper Mississippi Valley and naturalized in New York, presumably following introduction as a garden plant. Reports from Kansas and Missouri may be based on collections of A. ludoviciana.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
1. Involucres 2–4.5 mm diam.; usually in rocky soils; flowering mid–late summer | subsp. arbuscula |
1. Involucres 1.5–2.5 mm diam.; clays or stony soils; flowering early spring–late summer | → 2 |
2. Leaves broadly cuneate (4–10 × 2–5 mm, often irregularly lobed, lobes rounded, middle lobes overlapping lateral lobes); usually in clay soils; flower- ing early spring | subsp. longiloba |
2. Leaves narrowly cuneate (5–10 × 3–6 mm, lobed, lobes 1/2+ blade lengths, laterals to 1 mm wide, of-ten acute); usually in stony soils; flowering mid–late summer | subsp. thermopola |
- Local floras:
CA, 
OR, 
WA - Local Web sites: CalFlora, CalPhotos,
Flora NW, 
PNW Herbaria 
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist (observations)
USDA Plants Database- LBJ Wildflower Center
- SEINet
- Plants of the World Online
- Encyclopedia of Life
- Wikipedia
- Google Image Search
IL Wildflowers
MN Wildflowers
