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beach wormwood, field sagewort, field wormwood, northern wormwood, Pacific sagewort, sand wormwood

Photo is of parent taxon

armoise du Canada

Habit Biennials or perennials, (10–)30–80(–150) cm, faintly aromatic; taprooted, caudices branched. Biennials, 20–40 cm.
Stems

usually 1–5, turning reddish brown, (often ribbed) tomentose or glabrous.

usually 1.

Leaves

persistent or deciduous, mostly basal;

basal blades 4–12 cm;

cauline gradually reduced, 2–4 × 0.5–1.5 cm, 2–3-pinnately lobed, lobes linear to narrowly oblong, apices acute, faces densely to sparsely white-pubescent.

basal rosettes not persistent.

Involucres

broadly turbinate, 2.5–3(–5) × 2–3.5(–7) mm.

globose, 3–4 × 3.5–5(–6) mm.

Florets

pistillate 5–20; functionally staminate 12–30;

corollas pale yellow, sparsely hairy or glabrous.

Phyllaries

(margins scarious) glabrous or villous-tomentose.

Heads

(pedunculate) in (mostly leafless) paniculiform arrays.

in arrays 8–10(–12) × 1–2(–3) cm.

Cypselae

oblong-lanceoloid, somewhat compressed, 0.8–1 mm, faintly nerved, glabrous.

Artemisia campestris

Artemisia campestris subsp. canadensis

Phenology Flowering early–late summer.
Habitat Open meadows
Elevation 0–1000 m (0–3300 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AK; AR; AZ; CA; CO; CT; FL; IA; ID; IL; IN; KS; MA; ME; MI; MN; MO; MS; MT; NC; ND; NE; NH; NJ; NM; NV; NY; OH; OK; OR; PA; RI; SC; SD; TX; UT; VT; WA; WI; WY; AB; BC; MB; NB; NU; ON; QC; SK; especially mountains and high latitudes; Eurasia
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
ME; MB; NB; NL; NU; ON; QC; SK; Greenland
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Subspecies ca. 7 (3 in the flora).

Artemisia campestris varies; each morphologic form grades into another. The present circumscription is conservative in that only three subspecies are recognized; the subspecies usually can be separated geographically as well as morphologically. Populations in western North America consist primarily of subsp. pacifica; east of the continental divide, plants are assigned to subsp. canadensis in northern latitudes and to subsp. caudata in southern latitudes.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

A more broadly circumscribed interpretation of the subsp. caudata complex would encompass subsp. canadensis.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Key
1. Perennials; stems 2–5; basal rosettes persistent
subsp. pacifica
1. Biennials; stems 1(–3); basal rosettes not persistent (withering before flowering)
→ 2
2. Involucres globose, 3–4 × 3.5–5 mm; n of 50°, primarily Canada
subsp. canadensis
2. Involucres turbinate, 2–3 × 2–3 mm; s of 50°, e from Rocky Mountains to coastal North America
subsp. caudata
Source FNA vol. 19, p. 506. FNA vol. 19, p. 507.
Parent taxa Asteraceae > tribe Anthemideae > Artemisia > subg. Drancunculus Asteraceae > tribe Anthemideae > Artemisia > subg. Drancunculus > Artemisia campestris
Sibling taxa
A. abrotanum, A. absinthium, A. alaskana, A. aleutica, A. annua, A. arbuscula, A. biennis, A. bigelovii, A. borealis, A. californica, 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. campestris subsp. caudata, A. campestris subsp. pacifica
Subordinate taxa
A. campestris subsp. canadensis, A. campestris subsp. caudata, A. campestris subsp. pacifica
Synonyms A. canadensis
Name authority Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 2: 846. (1753) (Michaux) Scoggan: Fl. Canada 1: 52. (1978)
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