Flora of North America species comparison

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Artemisia californica

Artemisia pattersonii

California sagebrush, coastal sage brush

Patterson sagewort, Patterson's wormwood
Habit Shrubs, (20–)150–250 cm (rounded), pungently aromatic. Perennials, 8–20 cm, mildly aromatic.
Stems

relatively numerous, arched, green or brown, branched (slender, wandlike, bases brittle), densely canescent to glabrate.

gray-brown, glabrate or finely pubescent.
Leaves

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.

deciduous, gray-green; petiolate;

blades (basal) broadly spatulate, 2–4 × 0.5 cm, pinnately lobed (lobes ca. 1.5 mm wide; cauline smaller, 1-pinnately lobed or entire), faces silky-hairy.
Involucres

globose, 2–3(–4) × 2–4(–5) mm.

broadly hemispheric, 5–8 × 5–8(–10) mm.
Florets

pistillate 6–10;

bisexual 18–25;

corollas pale yellow, 0.8–1.2 mm, glabrous.

pistillate 7–27;

bisexual 32–100;

corollas (yellow tinged with red), 2–3 mm (including exsert anthers), mostly glabrous (embedded in tangled receptacular hairs).
Phyllaries

broadly ovate, sparsely canescent.

gray (margins dark brown to black), villous.
Heads

(nodding at maturity, pedunculate) in paniculiform arrays 6–20 × 1–3 cm (branches erect to broadly spreading).

borne singly or (2–5, spreading to nodding, pedunculate) in paniculiform or racemiform arrays 1–5 × 0.5–1 cm.
Cypselae

ellipsoid, 0.5–1.5 mm, resinous (pappi coroniform).

1.5–2 mm, glabrous.
2n

= 18.

= 14.

Artemisia californica

Artemisia pattersonii
Phenology Flowering early–late summer. Flowering mid–late summer.
Habitat Coastal scrub, dry foothills Alpine meadows
Elevation 0–800 m (0–2600 ft) 3500–4000 m (11500–13100 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
CA; Mexico (Baja California)
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
CO; NM; WY
Discussion

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.)

Artemisia pattersonii can be distinguished from the closely related A. scopulorum by its heads being borne singly and narrower phyllary margins.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 19, p. 524. FNA vol. 19, p. 520.
Parent taxa Asteraceae > tribe Anthemideae > Artemisia > subg. Artemisia Asteraceae > tribe Anthemideae > Artemisia > subg. Absinthium
Sibling taxa
A. abrotanum, A. absinthium, A. alaskana, A. aleutica, A. annua, A. arbuscula, A. biennis, A. bigelovii, A. borealis, A. campestris, A. cana, A. carruthii, A. douglasiana, A. dracunculus, A. filifolia, A. franserioides, A. frigida, A. furcata, A. globularia, A. glomerata, A. laciniata, A. longifolia, A. ludoviciana, A. michauxiana, A. nesiotica, A. norvegica, A. nova, A. packardiae, A. palmeri, A. papposa, A. pattersonii, A. pedatifida, A. pontica, A. porteri, A. pycnocephala, A. pygmaea, A. rigida, A. rothrockii, A. rupestris, A. scopulorum, A. senjavinensis, A. serrata, A. spiciformis, A. stelleriana, A. suksdorfii, A. tilesii, A. tridentata, A. tripartita, A. vulgaris
A. abrotanum, A. absinthium, A. alaskana, A. aleutica, A. annua, A. arbuscula, A. biennis, A. bigelovii, A. borealis, A. californica, A. campestris, A. cana, A. carruthii, A. douglasiana, A. dracunculus, A. filifolia, A. franserioides, A. frigida, A. furcata, A. globularia, A. glomerata, A. laciniata, A. longifolia, A. ludoviciana, A. michauxiana, A. nesiotica, A. norvegica, A. nova, A. packardiae, A. palmeri, A. papposa, A. pedatifida, A. pontica, A. porteri, A. pycnocephala, A. pygmaea, A. rigida, A. rothrockii, A. rupestris, A. scopulorum, A. senjavinensis, A. serrata, A. spiciformis, A. stelleriana, A. suksdorfii, A. tilesii, A. tridentata, A. tripartita, A. vulgaris
Synonyms A. abrotanoides, A. fischeriana, A. foliosa, Crossostephium californicum A. monocephala, A. scopulorum var. monocephala
Name authority Lessing: Linnaea 6: 523. (1831) A. Gray: in A. Gray et al., Syn. Fl. N. Amer. ed. 2, 1(2): 453. (1886)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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