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

Patterson sagewort, Patterson's wormwood

Habit Biennials or perennials, (10–)30–80(–150) cm, faintly aromatic; taprooted, caudices branched. Perennials, 8–20 cm, mildly aromatic.
Stems

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

gray-brown, glabrate or finely pubescent.

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.

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

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

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

Florets

pistillate 5–20; functionally staminate 12–30;

corollas pale yellow, sparsely hairy or 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

(margins scarious) glabrous or villous-tomentose.

gray (margins dark brown to black), villous.

Heads

(pedunculate) in (mostly leafless) paniculiform arrays.

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

Cypselae

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

1.5–2 mm, glabrous.

2n

= 14.

Artemisia campestris

Artemisia pattersonii

Phenology Flowering mid–late summer.
Habitat Alpine meadows
Elevation 3500–4000 m (11500–13100 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
CO; NM; WY
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.)

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.)

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. 520.
Parent taxa Asteraceae > tribe Anthemideae > Artemisia > subg. Drancunculus 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. 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. 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
Subordinate taxa
A. campestris subsp. canadensis, A. campestris subsp. caudata, A. campestris subsp. pacifica
Synonyms A. monocephala, A. scopulorum var. monocephala
Name authority Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 2: 846. (1753) A. Gray: in A. Gray et al., Syn. Fl. N. Amer. ed. 2, 1(2): 453. (1886)
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