Artemisia californica
Artemisia borealis
California sagebrush, coastal sage brush
boreal wormwood, field sagewort
relatively numerous, arched, green or brown, branched (slender, wandlike, bases brittle), densely canescent to glabrate.
(1–)2–5, gray-green, tomentose.
cauline, light green to gray;
blades filiform or spatulate to obovate, 3–5(–9) × 0.5–2 cm, sometimes pinnately lobed (lobes filiform, 0.5–1 mm wide), faces sparsely to densely hairy.
persistent, basal rosettes persistent, gray-green to white;
blades ovate, 2–4 × 0.5–1 cm, 2–3-pinnately or -ternately lobed, lobes linear to narrowly oblong, apices acute, faces moderately to densely sericeous.
globose, 2–3(–4) × 2–4(–5) mm.
hemispheric, 3–4 × 3.5–4 mm.
pistillate 6–10;
bisexual 18–25;
corollas pale yellow, 0.8–1.2 mm, glabrous.
pistillate 8–10; functionally staminate 15–30;
corollas (or lobes) yellow-orange or deep red, 2.2–3.5.
broadly ovate, sparsely canescent.
(obscurely scarious) densely tomentose-villous.
(nodding at maturity, pedunculate) in paniculiform arrays 6–20 × 1–3 cm (branches erect to broadly spreading).
(proximal sessile, distal pedunculate) in (leafy) spiciform arrays 4–9(–12) × (0.5–)1–5 cm.
ellipsoid, 0.5–1.5 mm, resinous (pappi coroniform).
oblong-lanceoloid, somewhat compressed, 0.4–1 mm, faintly nerved, glabrous.
= 18.
Artemisia californica
Artemisia borealis
Artemisia californica is the common sagebrush of chaparral in southern California. Its threadlike leaves and green flowering heads distinguish it from any other shrub in California. Artemisia nesiotica, an endemic of the Channel Islands that was initially considered a morphologic variant of A. californica, is distinct in size and form. Systematic placement of the complex may be problematic. The molecular phylogeny of L. E. Watson et al. (2002) suggests an alignment of A. californica within subg. Tridentatae. Based on this finding, a subgeneric realignment of this species may be in order. The odor of A. californica is markedly like that of the culinary mints known as common sage (Salvia species).
(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. Herbage villoso-tomentose, glabrate, or glabrous; corollas (at least lobes) usually yellow-orange, 2.2–3 mm; mountains, w North America | subsp. borealis |
1. Herbage white-hoary; corollas (at least lobes) deep red, 3–3.5 mm; w arctic North America | subsp. richardsoniana |
CA
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
BC
OR
Flora NW
PNW Herbaria
SW CO Wildflowers
