Artemisia campestris
Artemisia subg. Drancunculus
beach wormwood, field sagewort, field wormwood, northern wormwood, Pacific sagewort, sand wormwood
usually 1–5, turning reddish brown, (often ribbed) tomentose or glabrous.
wandlike (new stems may sprout from caudices).
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 (persistent in A. aleutica and A. borealis), usually cauline, sometimes basal, not in fascicles.
broadly turbinate, 2.5–3(–5) × 2–3.5(–7) mm.
epaleate, glabrous.
pistillate 5–20; functionally staminate 12–30;
corollas pale yellow, sparsely hairy or glabrous.
peripheral 1–25 pistillate and fertile;
central 3–32 functionally staminate (not setting fruits);
corollas subglobose.
(margins scarious) glabrous or villous-tomentose.
(pedunculate) in (mostly leafless) paniculiform arrays.
disciform.
oblong-lanceoloid, somewhat compressed, 0.8–1 mm, faintly nerved, glabrous.
Artemisia campestris
Artemisia subg. Drancunculus
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.)
Species ca. 80 (8 in the flora).
(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 |
1. Plants 5–30(–80+) cm (often cespitose and/or mounded) | → 2 |
1. Plants (10–)50–180 cm (not cespitose) | → 5 |
2. Perennials; leaves 2–3-palmately or -pinnately lobed | → 3 |
2. Perennials or subshrubs; leaves 1–2-pinnately or -ternately lobed | → 4 |
3. Leaves 2-palmately lobed; corollas purplish red; Aleutian Islands | A. aleutica |
3. Leaves 2–3-pinnately or -ternately lobed; corollas (at least lobes) usually yellow- orange or deep red; n latitudes and w mountains | A. borealis |
4. Leaves gray-green, lobes 1–2 mm wide; involucres 3–4 × 3–4 mm; corollas yellow, usually red-tinged, glabrous | A. pedatifida |
4. Leaves silver-green, lobes mostly 2–3 mm wide; involucres 4–5(–7) × 2–3 mm wide; corollas pale yellow, glandular | A. porteri |
5. Plants tarragon-scented or not aromatic; leaves mostly entire, sometimes (basal) irregularly lobed, faces usually glabrous, sometimes glabrescent (deserts) | A. dracunculus |
5. Plants faintly to strongly aromatic (not tarragon-scented); leaves lobed, faces hairy | → 6 |
6. Shrubs, 60–180 cm (rounded, stems wandlike); involucres 1.5–2 mm diam | A. filifolia |
6. Biennials or perennials, (10–)30–80(–150) cm; involucres 2–4.5(–7) mm diam | → 7 |
7. Stems usually 1–5; heads in (mostly leafless) paniculiform arrays | A. campestris |
7. Stems usually 10+; heads (clustered in glomerules) in (densely leafy) paniculiform to spiciform arrays | A. pycnocephala |
- 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
