Artemisia campestris
Artemisia serrata
beach wormwood, field sagewort, field wormwood, northern wormwood, Pacific sagewort, sand wormwood
sawtooth wormwood, serrate-leaf sage
usually 1–5, turning reddish brown, (often ribbed) tomentose or glabrous.
2–5, erect, brown, mostly simple (bases woody), sparsely 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.
cauline, bicolor (white and green);
blades lanceolate, 7–15 × 1–2.5 cm, serrate (teeth ca. 2 mm), faces densely tomentose (abaxial) or glabrate (adaxial).
broadly turbinate, 2.5–3(–5) × 2–3.5(–7) mm.
campanulate, 2.5–3 × 2–2.5 mm.
pistillate 5–20; functionally staminate 12–30;
corollas pale yellow, sparsely hairy or glabrous.
pistillate 3–5;
bisexual 9–10;
corollas pale yellow, 1.5–2 mm, sparsely glandular.
(margins scarious) glabrous or villous-tomentose.
lanceolate (margins hyaline), densely tomentose.
(pedunculate) in (mostly leafless) paniculiform arrays.
(peduncles 0 or to 2 mm) in racemiform arrays 10–15 × 5–15 cm.
oblong-lanceoloid, somewhat compressed, 0.8–1 mm, faintly nerved, glabrous.
ellipsoid, ca. 1 mm, glabrous.
= 36.
Artemisia campestris
Artemisia serrata
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 serrata is closely related to A. ludoviciana and A. longifolia; it is distinguished by its prominent, serrated leaf margins. It is apparently native to the upper Mississippi Valley and naturalized in New York, presumably following introduction as a garden plant. Reports from Kansas and Missouri may be based on collections of A. ludoviciana.
(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
