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bursage mugwort, ragweed sagebrush

fork wormwood, three-fork mugwort, three-fork wormwood

Habit Biennials or perennials, 30–100 cm, faintly aromatic (rhizomatous). Perennials, 7–35 cm (not cespitose), faintly aromatic (not rhizomatous, taproots stout, caudices simple or branched, branches clothed with persistent leaf bases).
Stems

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

(flowering) 1–5, erect, light brown, simple, strigillose or glabrate.

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.

basal (in rosettes) and cauline, gray-green;

blades oval, 2–10(–12) cm (basal) or 1–1.5 × 0.4–0.6 cm (cauline), 1–3-palmately lobed, faces sparsely to densely strigillose.

Involucres

broadly ovate, 3–5 × 4–5(–6) mm.

broadly campanulate, 3–6 × 4.5–8 mm.

Florets

pistillate 4–5(–13), (1–1.5 mm);

bisexual 25–35;

corollas yellow, 1.5–2 mm, glabrous.

pistillate 6–7;

bisexual 15–26;

corollas mostly yellow, sometimes red-tinged, 1–2 mm, glabrous or glabrate.

Phyllaries

broadly ovate, sparsely hairy.

(greenish, color often obscured by indument) ovate or lanceolate (margins dark brown), sparsely to densely tomentose.

Heads

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

(erect or spreading, some nodding, peduncles 0 or to 30 mm) in racemiform or spiciform arrays 1–6 × 1–2 cm.

Cypselae

elliptic, 0.5–0.8 mm, glabrous.

oblong (ribbed), 1–1.5 mm, glabrous.

2n

= 18, 36, 72, 90.

Artemisia franserioides

Artemisia furcata

Phenology Flowering late summer–early fall. Flowering late summer.
Habitat Open coniferous forests, mid to upper montane Talus slopes or tundra
Elevation 2200–3100 m (7200–10200 ft) 500–2700 m (1600–8900 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AZ; CO; NM; Mexico (Chihuahua)
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AK; WA; AB; BC; NT; NU; YT; Asia
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Artemisia furcata extends from the islands of the Bering Sea into southern and interior Alaska, parts of Canada (disjunct in British Columbia and the northernmost Rocky Mountains of Alberta), and on Mt. Rainier in Washington. The array of names applied to A. furcata shows the taxonomic confusion arising from a myriad of morphologic variants that may indicate introgression with other species.

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

Source FNA vol. 19, p. 525. FNA vol. 19, p. 525.
Parent taxa Asteraceae > tribe Anthemideae > Artemisia > subg. Artemisia Asteraceae > tribe Anthemideae > Artemisia > subg. Artemisia
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. filifolia, A. franserioides, A. frigida, 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. furcata var. heterophylla, A. hyperborea, A. tacomensis, A. trifurcata
Name authority Greene: Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 10: 42. (1883) M. Bieberstein: Fl. Taur.-Caucas. 3: 567. (1819)
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