Artemisia californica
Artemisia subg. Artemisia
California sagebrush, coastal sage brush
relatively numerous, arched, green or brown, branched (slender, wandlike, bases brittle), densely canescent to glabrate.
usually not wandlike (wandlike in A. californica, A. nesiotica, A. palmeri).
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.
usually deciduous, rarely persistent, basal (rosettes) and/or cauline (not in fascicles).
globose, 2–3(–4) × 2–4(–5) mm.
glabrous (paleate in A. palmeri).
pistillate 6–10;
bisexual 18–25;
corollas pale yellow, 0.8–1.2 mm, glabrous.
usually peripheral 3–20 pistillate and fertile (0 pistillate in A. nesiotica, A. palmeri);
central (or all) 14–70 bisexual and fertile;
corollas funnelform.
broadly ovate, sparsely canescent.
(nodding at maturity, pedunculate) in paniculiform arrays 6–20 × 1–3 cm (branches erect to broadly spreading).
usually disciform (discoid in A. nesiotica and A. palmeri).
ellipsoid, 0.5–1.5 mm, resinous (pappi coroniform).
= 18.
Artemisia californica
Artemisia subg. Artemisia
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.)
Species ca. 220 (27 in the flora).
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
1. Subshrubs or shrubs (stems wandlike) | → 2 |
1. Annuals, biennials, perennials, subshrubs, or shrubs (stems sometimes brittle, not wandlike) | → 4 |
2. Plants 100–350 cm; leaves relatively deeply and coarsely pinnately lobed (lobes 3–7+; coastal California and Baja California) | A. palmeri |
2. Plants 10–250 cm; leaves pinnately lobed or 3-lobed | → 3 |
3. Shrubs (20–250 cm); leaves pinnately lobed (lobes 0.5–1 mm wide); California (chaparral) | A. californica |
3. Subshrubs (10–60 cm, stems mostly prostrate); leaves 3-lobed (lobes 1–2 mm wide); Channel Islands, California | A. nesiotica |
4. Annuals or biennials; leaves among heads (relatively deeply) lobed | → 5 |
4. Perennials, subshrubs, or shrubs; leaves among heads mostly entire | → 6 |
5. Annuals, 30–200(–300) cm, sweetly aromatic; leaves 2–3-pinnatifid; arrays of heads 10–20 cm diam | A. annua |
5. Annuals or biennials, (10–)30–80(–150) cm, not aromatic; leaves 1–2-pinnately lobed; arrays of heads 2–4 cm diam | A. biennis |
6. Perennials, subshrubs, or shrubs (not rhizomatous) | → 7 |
6. Perennials (usually rhizomatous, stems sometimes woody at bases) | → 15 |
7. Heads in capitate or dense, corymbiform arrays (plants cespitose) | → 8 |
7. Heads in paniculiform or racemiform arrays (plants not cespitose) | → 10 |
8. Leaves pinnately lobed; involucres 3–5 mm diam.; phyllaries lanceolate to ovate (margins white) | A. senjavinensis |
8. Leaves 1–2-palmatifid; involucres 3.5–11 mm diam.; phyllaries lanceolate (margins brown or white) | → 9 |
9. Involucres 3.5–6 × 6–11 mm; phyllaries lanceolate (margins brown); corollas yellow or reddish black, glabrous or glandular (not pilose). | A. globularia |
9. Involucres 3–4 × 3.5–5 mm; phyllaries lanceolate (margins white); corollas yellow, glabrous or pilose | A. glomerata |
10. Leaves entire, irregularly palmatifid, or palmately 3-lobed to 2-ternately lobed | → 11 |
10. Leaves 2–3-pinnatifid | → 13 |
11. Pappi coroniform; Idaho, Nevada, Oregon | A. papposa |
11. Pappi 0; Alberta, British Columbia, Northwest Territories, Nunavut; Alaska, Washington | → 12 |
12. Plants 15–70 cm; leaves palmately 3-lobed to 2-ternately lobed. | A. alaskana |
12. Plants (5–)10–40 cm; leaves 1–3-palmately lobed | A. furcata |
13. Perennials or subshrubs, 50–170 cm (widely branched, stems brittle); leaf lobes less than 1 mm wide; heads erect; involucres 1.5–3 mm diam. (gardens, waste places, much of North America) | A. abrotanum |
13. Perennials, 10–50 cm (erect, stems not brittle); leaf lobes 1+ mm wide (margins coarsely toothed); heads nodding; involucres 4–10 mm diam | → 14 |
14. Peduncles 0 or to 10 mm | A. laciniata |
14. Peduncles to 50 mm | A. norvegica |
15. Leaves entire, serrate, toothed, or lobed (sinuses to 1/2 blade widths) | → 16 |
15. Leaves (relatively deeply) lobed (sinuses 1/2+ blade widths) | → 22 |
16. Plants 20–50(–80, rarely more) cm | → 17 |
16. Plants 50–300 cm | → 19 |
17. Leaves usually entire, sometimes toothed or lobed; involucres 4–5 mm diam | A. longifolia |
17. Leaves usually lobed, sometimes entire; involucres (1–)2–5 mm diam | → 18 |
18. Involucres 2–4(–5.5) mm; phyllaries (gray-green) densely tomentose | A. ludoviciana |
18. Involucres 3.5–4 mm; phyllaries (violet-brown) sparsely tomentose (w North America) | A. tilesii |
19. Phyllaries glabrous or sparsely hairy (coast, n California to British Columbia) | A. suksdorfii |
19. Phyllaries usually densely hairy | → 20 |
20. Leaves densely hairy (both faces, broadly lanceolate, mostly entire, the proximal lobed; w North America, mostly inland grasslands). | A. douglasiana |
20. Leaves (bicolor) hairy abaxially, glabrate or glabrous adaxially | → 21 |
21. Leaves serrate (teeth ca. 2 mm; inland grasslands and barren areas, high plains) | A. serrata |
21. Leaves mostly deeply lobed (lobes 4–20 mm; mostly e North America, introduced w coast) | A. vulgaris |
22. Leaves not bicolor (both faces bright green or silvery), lobes acute or rounded | → 23 |
22. Leaves bicolor (abaxial faces silvery, adaxial green), lobes acute | → 25 |
23. Leaves silver-gray, lobes rounded (coastal dunes) | A. stelleriana |
23. Leaves bright green, lobes acute (not coastal dunes) | → 24 |
24. Involucres (4–)5–8 × 4–10 mm; 0–3800 m | A. norvegica |
24. Involucres 2.5–3.5 × 2–4.5 mm; 100–2400 m | A. packardiae |
25. Plants 30–100 cm, lemon-scented; heads usually erect (subalpine and alpine). | A. michauxiana |
25. Plants 15–70 cm, not lemon-scented; heads usually nodding | → 26 |
26. Perennials (widely spreading, stems brittle); garden escapes, c, e North America. | A. pontica |
26. Biennials or perennials (erect) | → 27 |
27. Leaves pinnatifid (lobes 3–5, 0.5–1 mm wide); grasslands or deserts, 600– 2900 m | A. carruthii |
27. Leaves 2–3-pinnately lobed (lobes elliptic, 2–6 mm wide); w mountains, 2200–3100 m | A. franserioides |
CA
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