Flora of North America species comparison

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Artemisia rothrockii

Artemisia aleutica

Rothrock sagebrush, sticky sagebrush, timberline sagebrush

Aleutian wormwood
Habit Shrubs, 20–50 cm (sticky-resinous and dark green throughout), pungently aromatic; not root-sprouting (trunks relatively narrow). Perennials, 5–10 cm (cespitose), mildly aromatic; caudices branched.
Stems

white (becoming dark gray with age), canescent (bark exfoliating).

usually 1, reddish brown to gray, tomentose to glabrate.
Leaves

persistent, light or dark gray-green;

blades long-cuneate to lanceolate, (0.4–)1–1.5(–2) × 0.2–0.4 cm, 3-lobed (lobes to 1/3 blade lengths, rounded, margins sometimes entire, somewhat wavy), faces densely to sparsely canescent, gland-dotted, sticky-resinous.

persistent, mostly basal, gray-green; (petioles often expanded) blades (at least proximal) obovate, 1.5–5 × 0.5–1 cm, 2-palmately lobed, lobes relatively narrow, apices acute, faces densely white-villous (brownish in age);

cauline smaller, distally 1-ternate.
Involucres

broadly ovoid, 3–5 × 4–6 mm.

hemispheric or globose, (2–)5–7 × (2–)6–8 mm.
Florets

12–20;

corollas 2.5–3.5 mm.

pistillate 4–6; functionally staminate 15–30;

corollas purplish red, 1.5–2 mm, hairy.
Phyllaries

(usually gray-green) ovate, densely or sparsely canescent.

villous.
Heads

(erect, sessile or pedunculate) in paniculiform arrays, 5–15 × 1–2(–3) cm.

(sessile or peduncles 2–15 mm) in racemiform or spiciform arrays, 1.5–3 × 0.5–1 cm.
Cypselae

0.8–2 mm, (smooth), resinous.

oblong, ca. 1 mm, faintly nerved, glabrous.
2n

= 36, 54, 72.

Artemisia rothrockii

Artemisia aleutica
Phenology Flowering mid summer–all. Flowering mid–late summer.
Habitat Clay soils of mountain meadows Open areas, fellfield tundra
Elevation 2500–3100 m (8200–10200 ft) 0–100 m (0–300 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
CA
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AK
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Artemisia rothrockii is known only from the central and southern Sierra Nevada and the White Mountains of California. In the Rocky Mountains, A. spiciformis has been confused with A. rothrockii. Distinctive chemistry and anatomical structure of the leaves support the distinctness of A. rothrockii (L. M. Shultz 1986b). Intermediate characteristics suggest a hybrid origin from races of A. cana and A. tridentata.

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

Of conservation concern.

Artemisia aleutica is known only from the western Aleutian Islands. It is morphologically similar to A. borealis, and the relationships of these species complexes warrant further study.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 19, p. 515. FNA vol. 19, p. 505.
Parent taxa Asteraceae > tribe Anthemideae > Artemisia > subg. Tridentatae Asteraceae > tribe Anthemideae > Artemisia > subg. Drancunculus
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. pattersonii, A. pedatifida, A. pontica, A. porteri, A. pycnocephala, A. pygmaea, A. rigida, 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. 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. tilesii, A. tridentata, A. tripartita, A. vulgaris
Synonyms A. tridentata subsp. rothrockii, Seriphidium rothrockii
Name authority A. Gray: in W. H. Brewer et al., Bot. California 1: 618. (1876) Hultén: Bot. Not. 1939: 829, fig. 2. (1939)
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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