Flora of North America species comparison

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Artemisia franserioides

Artemisia filifolia

bursage mugwort, ragweed sagebrush

sand sage, sand sagebrush, sandhill sage, silvery wormwood
Habit Biennials or perennials, 30–100 cm, faintly aromatic (rhizomatous). Shrubs, 60–180 cm (rounded), faintly aromatic.
Stems

1–3, erect, reddish brown, simple (leafy), glabrous or glabrate.

green or gray-green, wandlike (usually slender, curved, sometimes stout and stunted in harsh habitats), glabrous or sparsely hairy.
Leaves

basal (in rosettes, petiolate) and cauline, bicolor (white and green);

blades ovate, 3–7(–20) × 2–4(–6) cm, 2–3-pinnately-lobed (lobes elliptic, 2–6 mm wide; cauline sessile, smaller), faces tomentose (abaxial) or glabrous or glabrescent (adaxial), glandular.

gray-green;

blades linear if entire, obovate if lobed, (1.5–)2–5(–6) × 0.1–2.5 cm, entire to 3-lobed, lobes filiform (less than 1 mm wide), apices acute, glabrous or sparsely hairy.
Involucres

broadly ovate, 3–5 × 4–5(–6) mm.

globose, 1.5–2 × 1.5–2 mm.
Florets

pistillate 4–5(–13), (1–1.5 mm);

bisexual 25–35;

corollas yellow, 1.5–2 mm, glabrous.

pistillate 1–4; functionally staminate 3–6;

corollas pale yellow, 1–1.5 mm, glabrous.
Phyllaries

broadly ovate, sparsely hairy.

(ovate, inconspicuous, margins scarious) densely hairy.
Heads

(nodding, peduncles 0 or 2) in paniculiform to racemiform arrays 10–35 × 2–4 cm (often 1-sided).

(mostly sessile) in paniculiform arrays 8–15(–17) × 2–4(–5) cm (branches erect to somewhat recurved).
Cypselae

elliptic, 0.5–0.8 mm, glabrous.

oblong (distally incurved-falcate and oblique), 0.2–0.5 mm, obscurely nerved, glabrous.
2n

= 18.

Artemisia franserioides

Artemisia filifolia
Phenology Flowering late summer–early fall. Flowering late summer–early winter.
Habitat Open coniferous forests, mid to upper montane Open prairies, dunes, sandy soils
Elevation 2200–3100 m (7200–10200 ft) 500–2000 m (1600–6600 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AZ; CO; NM; Mexico (Chihuahua)
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AZ; CO; KS; NE; NM; NV; OK; SD; TX; UT; WY
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

One of the more easily distinguished of the shrubby Artemisia species, A. filifolia occurs in sandy soils and cohabits with species of Yucca, Cactaceae, and Salvia dorrii, the purple sage of western literary fame. Its filiform leaves and faintly aromatic foliage distinguish it from members of subg. Tridentatae.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 19, p. 525. FNA vol. 19, p. 508.
Parent taxa Asteraceae > tribe Anthemideae > Artemisia > subg. Artemisia Asteraceae > tribe Anthemideae > Artemisia > subg. Drancunculus
Sibling taxa
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. 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. 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
Synonyms A. plattensis, Oligosporus filifolius
Name authority Greene: Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 10: 42. (1883) Torrey: Ann. Lyceum Nat. Hist. New York 2: 211. (1827)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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