Flora of North America species comparison

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Artemisia pattersonii

Artemisia spiciformis

Patterson sagewort, Patterson's wormwood

big sagebrush, snowfield sagebrush, spike sagebrush
Habit Perennials, 8–20 cm, mildly aromatic. Shrubs, 30–80 cm (widely branched, gray-tomentose), aromatic; root-sprouting.
Stems

gray-brown, glabrate or finely pubescent.

relatively numerous, brown or grayish green.
Leaves

deciduous, gray-green;

petiolate;

blades (basal) broadly spatulate, 2–4 × 0.5 cm, pinnately lobed (lobes ca. 1.5 mm wide; cauline smaller, 1-pinnately lobed or entire), faces silky-hairy.

± deciduous (by late summer, turning yellow);

blades lanceolate, oblanceolate, or cuneate, 2.5–5.5 × 0.8–1.2+ cm, entire or irregularly 3–6-lobed (lobes to 1/3 blade lengths, 1.5+ mm wide, rounded or acute; leaves of flowering stems usually smaller, entire), faces ± sericeous or tomentose.
Involucres

broadly hemispheric, 5–8 × 5–8(–10) mm.

ovoid or lanceoloid, (2.5–)4–6(–7) mm.
Florets

pistillate 7–27;

bisexual 32–100;

corollas (yellow tinged with red), 2–3 mm (including exsert anthers), mostly glabrous (embedded in tangled receptacular hairs).

8–18(–27);

corollas 2.5–3.5, glabrous.
Phyllaries

gray (margins dark brown to black), villous.

lanceolate, sparsely to densely hairy.
Heads

borne singly or (2–5, spreading to nodding, pedunculate) in paniculiform or racemiform arrays 1–5 × 0.5–1 cm.

(erect) in (leafy) paniculiform arrays 8–15(–25) × 0.5–3(–4) cm.
Cypselae

1.5–2 mm, glabrous.

1–1.5 mm, glabrous or resinous.
2n

= 14.

= 18, 36, 54, 72.

Artemisia pattersonii

Artemisia spiciformis
Phenology Flowering mid–late summer. Flowering mid summer–fall.
Habitat Alpine meadows Moist open slopes, rocky meadows, streamsides, woodlands, late-lying snowfields
Elevation 3500–4000 m (11500–13100 ft) 2100–3700 m (6900–12100 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
CO; NM; WY
from FNA
CA; CO; ID; NV; OR; UT; WA; WY
[WildflowerSearch map]
Discussion

Artemisia pattersonii can be distinguished from the closely related A. scopulorum by its heads being borne singly and narrower phyllary margins.

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

Often confused with Artemisia rothrockii, A. spiciformis has been recognized only recently as a widespread, high-elevation sagebrush of late-lying snowfields. Molecular analysis has not yet determined the degree to which this species intergrades with A. cana subsp. viscidula and A. tridentata subsp. vaseyana, the presumed parents of this putative hybrid. Because snow-field sagebrush produces fertile seeds and forms a stable community type, it is treated here as a distinct species.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 19, p. 520. FNA vol. 19, p. 515.
Parent taxa Asteraceae > tribe Anthemideae > Artemisia > subg. Absinthium 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. 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. 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. stelleriana, A. suksdorfii, A. tilesii, A. tridentata, A. tripartita, A. vulgaris
Synonyms A. monocephala, A. scopulorum var. monocephala A. tridentata subsp. spiciformis, Seriphidium spiciforme
Name authority A. Gray: in A. Gray et al., Syn. Fl. N. Amer. ed. 2, 1(2): 453. (1886) Osterhout: Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 27: 507. (1900)
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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