Flora of North America species comparison

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Artemisia franserioides

Artemisia pygmaea

bursage mugwort, ragweed sagebrush

pygmy sage, pygmy sagebrush
Habit Biennials or perennials, 30–100 cm, faintly aromatic (rhizomatous). Shrubs, 5–10 cm, slightly aromatic; not root-sprouting (caudices coarsely woody, branched).
Stems

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

pale to light brown (stiffly erect, densely clothed with appressed foliage), sparsely tomentose.
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.

persistent (sessile, rigid), bright green;

blades oblong to ovate, 0.3–0.5 × 0.2–0.3 cm, pinnately lobed (nearly to midribs, 1/3+ widths of blades, lobes 3–7, divergent), faces glabrous or sparsely tomentose, resinous.
Involucres

broadly ovate, 3–5 × 4–5(–6) mm.

narrowly turbinate, 2–3 × 3–4 mm.
Florets

pistillate 4–5(–13), (1–1.5 mm);

bisexual 25–35;

corollas yellow, 1.5–2 mm, glabrous.

2–6;

corollas 2.5–3 mm, glandular (style branches flat, erose, exsert).
Phyllaries

broadly ovate, sparsely hairy.

(green) narrowly lanceolate (midribs prominent), glabrous or sparsely tomentose.
Heads

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

(sessile, erect) in paniculiform to racemiform arrays (1–)2–3 × 0.5–1 cm.
Cypselae

elliptic, 0.5–0.8 mm, glabrous.

(prismatic) 0.4–0.5 mm, glabrous, resinous.
2n

= 18.

Artemisia franserioides

Artemisia pygmaea
Phenology Flowering late summer–early fall. Flowering mid summer–fall.
Habitat Open coniferous forests, mid to upper montane Fine-textured soils of gypsum or shale
Elevation 2200–3100 m (7200–10200 ft) 1500–1800 m (4900–5900 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AZ; CO; NM; Mexico (Chihuahua)
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AZ; CO; NM; NV; UT
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Artemisia pygmaea is a distinctive, faintly aromatic shrublet, often mistaken for something other than a sagebrush. In early spring its stiff, bright green, deeply pinnatifid leaves are reminiscent of some prickly member of Polemoniaceae. After flowering, its heads and narrow panicles easily identify it as a member of Artemisia; it is unlike other members of the subgenus (which typically have 3-lobed leaves in fascicled lateral shoots). The molecular analysis by L. E. Watson et al. (2002) supported its phylogenetic alignment within subg. Tridentatae.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 19, p. 525. FNA vol. 19, p. 514.
Parent taxa Asteraceae > tribe Anthemideae > Artemisia > subg. Artemisia Asteraceae > tribe Anthemideae > Artemisia > subg. Tridentatae
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. 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. 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 Seriphidium pygmaeum
Name authority Greene: Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 10: 42. (1883) A. Gray: Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 21: 413. (1886)
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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