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island sagebrush

Aleutian mugwort, Cascade wormwood, Tilesius' wormwood

Habit Subshrubs, 10–60 cm (rounded), aromatic. Perennials, 20–60(–80) cm, mildly aromatic (rhizomes coarse).
Stems

relatively numerous, ascending or prostrate, gray, simple or branched (slender, wandlike, soft, bases woody and brittle), densely canescent.

1–3, erect, white, tomentose (on distal branches, hairs appressed) or glabrate.

Leaves

cauline, gray-green;

blades linear-oblong, 3–5 × 1–2 cm, mostly 3-lobed (lobes 1–2 mm wide), faces gray-hairy.

basal and cauline, bicolor (white and green);

blades (basal) linear to broadly lanceolate, 3–7(–10) × 2–5(–6) cm, coarsely pinnately lobed (cauline becoming linear distally), faces tomentose (abaxial) or glabrous (adaxial).

Involucres

broadly campanulate, 2.5 × 4–4.5 mm.

broadly campanulate, 4–5 × 3.5–4 mm.

Florets

pistillate 0;

bisexual 20–50;

corollas pale yellow, 1.2–1.5 mm, glandular.

pistillate 9;

bisexual 25–60;

corollas yellow, 1.5–3 mm, glabrous (style branches included, erect, linear, relatively short, short-ciliate).

Phyllaries

broadly ovate, densely hairy.

(violet-brown) oval (outer) to elliptic or lanceolate, sparsely tomentose.

Heads

(usually erect, sometimes nodding) in (leafy) paniculiform arrays 10–25 × 3–5(–7) cm.

in compact to broadly branched, paniculiform arrays 1–20 × 2–6 cm.

Cypselae

(light brown) ellipsoid (ribbed), 0.5 mm, resinous.

oblong-linear (angular), 1.2–1.5 mm, glabrous.

2n

= 18, 36.

Artemisia nesiotica

Artemisia tilesii

Phenology Flowering mid–late summer. Flowering mid summer–early fall.
Habitat Rocky slopes, often fog-shrouded hillsides Arctic and alpine tundra, sandy, rocky slopes near shorelines
Elevation 0–100 m (0–300 ft) 0–2000 m (0–6600 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
CA
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[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AK; ID; MT; OR; WA; AB; BC; MB; NT; NU; ON; QC; SK; YT; Asia (Russia)
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Discussion

Artemisia nesiotica is known only from the Channel Islands of California. It differs from the closely related A. californica by its shorter stature, wider leaf lobes, and larger heads.

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

Artemisia tilesii has a bewildering array of variation in leaf and inflorescence morphology that has been separated into four infraspecific taxa recognized in some floras. I am unable to separate these taxa consistently and am including them within a broad circumscription of the species.

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

Source FNA vol. 19, p. 530. FNA vol. 19, p. 533.
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. michauxiana, 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. stelleriana, A. suksdorfii, A. tridentata, A. tripartita, A. vulgaris
Synonyms Crossostephium insulare, A. californica var. insularis A. hookeriana, A. hultenii, A. tilesii var. aleutica, A. tilesii var. elatior, A. tilesii subsp. gormanii, A. tilesii subsp. hultenii, A. tilesii var. unalaschcensis, A. unalaskensis var. aleutica, A. vulgaris subsp. tilesii
Name authority P. H. Raven: Aliso 5: 341. (1963) Ledebour: Mém. Acad. Imp. Sci. St. Pétersbourg Hist. Acad. 5: 568. (1814)
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