Artemisia campestris
Artemisia porteri
beach wormwood, field sagewort, field wormwood, northern wormwood, Pacific sagewort, sand wormwood
Porter mugwort, Porter's wormwood
usually 1–5, turning reddish brown, (often ribbed) tomentose or glabrous.
5–8, silver-gray, densely tomentose.
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.
persistent, silver-green, mostly basal;
proximalmost blades 3–4 × 1–1.5 cm, 1-pinnately lobed, lobes mostly 2–3 mm wide;
blades of flowering stems somewhat reduced, (1–)2–3(–5) × 0.15 cm, mostly entire;
apices rounded, faces densely hairy.
broadly turbinate, 2.5–3(–5) × 2–3.5(–7) mm.
broadly campanulate, 4–5(–7) × 2–3 mm.
pistillate 5–20; functionally staminate 12–30;
corollas pale yellow, sparsely hairy or glabrous.
pistillate 8–10 (2–2.8 mm); functionally staminate 22–32;
corollas pale yellow, 2.2–4.5 mm, glandular.
(margins scarious) glabrous or villous-tomentose.
(ovate, margins broadly scarious) densely tomentose.
(pedunculate) in (mostly leafless) paniculiform arrays.
borne singly or (clustered in 2s and 3s on lateral branches; peduncles 0 or to 5 mm) in paniculiform arrays, (2–)4–9 × 1–1.5(–2) cm.
oblong-lanceoloid, somewhat compressed, 0.8–1 mm, faintly nerved, glabrous.
(light brown) ellipsoid, flattened (faintly nerved), 1.5–2 mm, sparsely hairy, glabrous or resinous.
Artemisia campestris
Artemisia porteri
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.)
Although Cronquist observed that Artemisia porteri may be an autopolyploid derivative of A. pedatifida, morphologic similarities to northerly cespitose taxa suggest a more complex origin.
Artemisia porteri is in the Center for Plant Conservation’s National Collection of Endangered Plants.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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 |
- Local floras:
BC, 
OR, 
WA - Local Web sites:
CalFlora, CalPhotos, 
Flora NW, 
Go Botany, 
IL Wildflowers, 
KS Wildflowers, 
MI Flora, 
MN Wildflowers, 
MO Plants, 
PNW Herbaria 
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist (observations)
USDA Plants Database- LBJ Wildflower Center
- SEINet
- Plants of the World Online
- Encyclopedia of Life
- Wikipedia
- Google Image Search
