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northern wormwood, Pacific field wormwood, Pacific sagewort, western sagewort

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

Habit Perennials, 30–100 cm. Biennials or perennials, (10–)30–80(–150) cm, faintly aromatic; taprooted, caudices branched.
Stems

2–5.

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

Leaves

basal rosettes persistent (faces green and glabrous or gray-green and sparsely hairy).

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.

Involucres

turbinate, 2–3 × 2(–3) mm.

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

Florets

pistillate 5–20; functionally staminate 12–30;

corollas pale yellow, sparsely hairy or glabrous.

Phyllaries

(margins scarious) glabrous or villous-tomentose.

Heads

in arrays 10–22 × 1–3(–7) cm.

(pedunculate) in (mostly leafless) paniculiform arrays.

Cypselae

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

Artemisia campestris subsp. pacifica

Artemisia campestris

Phenology Flowering mid–late summer.
Habitat Sandy soils, arid regions
Elevation 100–2500 m (300–8200 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AK; AZ; CA; CO; ID; MT; NE; NM; NV; OR; TX; UT; WA; WY; AB; BC; MB; SK
[BONAP county map]
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]
Discussion

Throughout western North America, members of the Artemisia campestris complex can be assigned to subsp. pacifica. Although morphologically distinct through much of its range, subsp. pacifica may intergrade with subsp. canadensis and A. borealis in areas where their ranges overlap.

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

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.)

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. 508. FNA vol. 19, p. 506.
Parent taxa Asteraceae > tribe Anthemideae > Artemisia > subg. Drancunculus > Artemisia campestris Asteraceae > tribe Anthemideae > Artemisia > subg. Drancunculus
Sibling taxa
A. campestris subsp. canadensis, A. campestris subsp. caudata
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
Subordinate taxa
A. campestris subsp. canadensis, A. campestris subsp. caudata, A. campestris subsp. pacifica
Synonyms A. pacifica, A. campestris var. petiolata, A. campestris var. scouleriana, A. desertorum var. scouleriana, Oligosporus campestris subsp. pacificus, Oligosporus pacificus
Name authority (Nuttall) H. M. Hall & Clements: Publ. Carnegie Inst. Wash. 326: 122. (1923) Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 2: 846. (1753)
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