Flora of North America species comparison

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Artemisia michauxiana

Artemisia stelleriana

lemon sagewort, Michaux' wormwood, Michaux's mugwort, Michaux's wormwood

armoise de Steller, beach wormwood, dusty miller, oldwoman, Steller's wormwood
Habit Perennials, 30–100 cm, strongly aromatic (lemon-scented; rhizomatous). Perennials, (15–)20–60(–70) cm (mat-forming), sometimes faintly aromatic (rhizomes creeping, relatively thin).
Stems

relatively many, erect, green, simple, glabrous.

1–3, erect or ascending, white, simple (stout), densely tomentose to floccose.
Leaves

cauline, green;

blades broadly lanceolate to narrowly elliptic, 1.5–11 × 1–1.5 cm, 2-pinnately lobed, (ultimate lobes toothed), faces white-tomentose (abaxial) or glabrous (adaxial), yellow-gland-dotted.

basal and cauline (petiolate), silver-gray;

blades oblanceolate, (proximalmost) 3–10 × 1–5 cm, pinnatifid (lobes relatively broad, rounded; distal leaves, on flowering stems, smaller), faces densely tomentose.
Involucres

campanulate, 3(–4) × 2–5.5 mm.

broadly campanulate, 5–8 × 6–7 mm.
Florets

pistillate 9–12;

bisexual 15–35;

corollas yellow, 1–1.5 mm, glandular.

pistillate 12–16;

bisexual 25–30;

corollas yellow (narrow or tubular), 3.2–4 mm (unusually large), glabrous or sparsely hairy (style branches prominent, erect, blunt).
Phyllaries

(yellow-green, rarely purplish) broadly ovate, glabrous or sparsely hairy, yellow-gland-dotted.

broadly lanceolate, tomentose.
Heads

(erect to nodding, peduncles 0 or to 10 mm) in paniculiform to spiciform arrays 8–15 × 1–1.5 cm.

(erect or spreading, peduncles 0 or to 3 mm) in dense, paniculiform, racemiform, or spiciform arrays 8–20 × 2–4 cm.
Cypselae

(yellow to light brown) ellipsoid, ca. 0.5 mm, glabrous or glandular.

(dark brown) narrowly oblong-linear (slightly flattened, smooth), 3–4 mm, glabrous.
2n

= 18, 36.

= 18.

Artemisia michauxiana

Artemisia stelleriana
Phenology Flowering mid summer–early fall. Flowering early spring–fall.
Habitat Talus slopes, alpine and subalpine drainages Sandy soils, coastal strand
Elevation 1900–3700 m (6200–12100 ft) 0–200 m (0–700 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
CA; CO; ID; MT; NV; OR; UT; WA; WY; AB; BC; YT
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AK; CT; DE; FL; LA; MA; MD; ME; MI; MN; NC; NH; NJ; NY; OH; PA; RI; VA; VT; WA; WI; WV; NB; NF; NS; ON; PE; QC; SPM; n Europe; e Asia (Japan, Kamchatka)
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Members of the Artemisia ludoviciana complex with deeply lobed leaves are sometimes confused with A. michauxiana, and there is evidence that plants hybridize in some locations. Artemisia michauxiana is distinguished by its glabrous, bright green to yellow-green foliage and lemony-sweet fragrance.

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

Artemisia stelleriana is apparently native along the western tip of the Aleutian islands (D. F. Murray, pers. comm.). It is an attractive ornamental and, in parts of its range in the flora area, it appears to have escaped from cultivation and is naturalized in beach dunes and other sandy habitats.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 19, p. 530. FNA vol. 19, p. 532.
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. franserioides, A. frigida, A. furcata, A. globularia, A. glomerata, A. laciniata, A. longifolia, A. ludoviciana, 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. pygmaea, A. rigida, A. rothrockii, A. rupestris, A. scopulorum, A. senjavinensis, A. serrata, A. spiciformis, A. suksdorfii, A. tilesii, A. tridentata, A. tripartita, A. vulgaris
Synonyms A. discolor, A. vulgaris subsp. michauxiana
Name authority Besser: in W. J. Hooker, Fl. Bor.-Amer. 1: 324. (1833) Besser: Nouv. Mém. Soc. Imp. Naturalistes Moscou 3: 79, plate 5. (1834)
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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