Artemisia bigelovii
Artemisia laciniata
Bigelow sage, Bigelow sagebrush, Bigelow sagewort, Bigelow's sage
Siberian wormwood
silvery, canescent (bark gray-brown).
1–3, erect, reddish brown, simple, strigillose to spreading-hairy, or glabrous.
persistent, light gray-green;
blades narrowly cuneate, 0.5–3 × 0.2–0.5 cm, entire or 3(–5)-lobed (lobes 1.5–2 mm, less than 1/3 blade lengths, acute), faces silvery canescent.
basal (in rosettes, petioles to 12 cm) and cauline, greenish;
blades (basal) 2–3-pinnate, relatively deeply lobed (cauline sessile, 1–2-pinnately lobed to entire), faces sparsely hairy to pilose.
globose, 2–3 × 1.5–2.5 mm.
globose, 3–5 × 4–8 mm.
pistillate 0–2 (raylike, laminae to 1 mm);
bisexual 1–3;
corollas 1–1.5 mm (style branches of ray florets elongate, exsert, epapillate, tips acute; of disc florets, short, truncate, papillate).
pistillate 6–8;
bisexual 20–50;
corollas yellowish or yellow to reddish-tinged, 1–2 mm, hairy (hairs tangled).
(8–15) ovate, canescent or tomentose.
(greenish or yellowish) elliptic (margins hyaline, brownish), glabrous or sparsely hairy.
(usually nodding) in arrays 6–25 × 1–4 cm (branches erect, somewhat curved).
(10–70, spreading to nodding, peduncles 0 or to 10 mm) in spiciform arrays 2–5 × 0.5–1 or 8–18 × 1–4 cm.
(ellipsoid, 5-ribbed) 0.8–1 mm, glabrous.
oblong, 0.5–1 mm, glabrous.
= 18, 36, 72.
Artemisia bigelovii
Artemisia laciniata
Artemisia bigelovii of the southwestern deserts is easily confused in the field with A. tridentata, even though it is well distinguished ecologically and morphologically. Systematic placement within subg. Tridentatae remains problematic. Presence of “ray” florets (though rare) and vestigial spines on the pollen (R. P. Wodehouse 1935) suggest a relationship with groups ancestral to Tridentatae. The species also has the unusual characteristic of lignified trichomes (L. M. Shultz 1986b). Further research may help to determine proper placement; its affinities may be with members of subg. Artemisia.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Subspecies 2 (2 in the flora).
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
1. Stems hairy; leaves mostly cauline, blades 5–20 × 1–2 cm, sparsely hairy; arrays of heads 8–18 × 1–4 cm; corollas yellowish, 1–1.5 mm | subsp. laciniata |
1. Stems glabrous; leaves mostly basal, blades of proximalmost 4–8 × 0.5–1 cm, of cauline 1.5–0.8 × 0.2 cm, sericeous; arrays of heads 2–5 × 0.5–1 cm; corollas yellow or reddish-tinged, 1.5–2 mm | subsp. parryi |
CA
SW CO Wildflowers
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
PNW Herbaria
