Artemisia rothrockii
Artemisia arbuscula
Rothrock sagebrush, sticky sagebrush, timberline sagebrush
black sagebrush, dwarf sagebrush, little sagebrush, low sagebrush
white (becoming dark gray with age), canescent (bark exfoliating).
gray-green to brown, glabrate (diffusely branched from bases, brittle).
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.
(vegetative stems) persistent, gray-green;
blades broadly to narrowly cuneate, 3–10 × 2–5 mm, lobed (lobes 3, oblong-linear, to 1/3 blade lengths, mostly 1–3 mm wide, flat, obtuse, laterals sometimes 2–3-fid; leaves on flowering stems deciduous, blades narrowly cuneate, deeply 3-lobed), faces densely hairy (not sticky resinous).
broadly ovoid, 3–5 × 4–6 mm.
campanulate or globose-ovoid, (1.5–)2–4(–5) × 1.5–4.5 mm.
12–20;
corollas 2.5–3.5 mm.
4–6(–10);
corollas 1.5–2 mm, glabrous.
(usually gray-green) ovate, densely or sparsely canescent.
(margins green) ovate (outer) to oblong, pubescent or tomentose.
(erect, sessile or pedunculate) in paniculiform arrays, 5–15 × 1–2(–3) cm.
usually borne singly, rarely (1–4, erect, mostly sessile, in pedunculate clusters) in spiciform or paniculiform arrays 2–9 × 0.5–2 cm (branches slender).
0.8–2 mm, (smooth), resinous.
(light brown) 0.7–0.8 mm, resinous.
= 36, 54, 72.
Artemisia rothrockii
Artemisia arbuscula
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.)
Subspecies 3 (3 in the flora).
Artemisia arbuscula is one of the more perplexing species in the Tridentatae complex. Anatomic and morphologic characteristics suggest multiple hybrid origins for the subspecies. Deciduous leaves of flowering stems in plants that otherwise have persistent leaves suggest a hybrid origin involving plants of the A. tridentata and A. cana lineages. In most instances, populations of A. arbuscula appear to be reproductively stable. The disposition of Artemisia arbuscula subsp. longicaulis Winward & McArthur (with 2n = 54) has not been determined.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
1. Involucres 2–4.5 mm diam.; usually in rocky soils; flowering mid–late summer | subsp. arbuscula |
1. Involucres 1.5–2.5 mm diam.; clays or stony soils; flowering early spring–late summer | → 2 |
2. Leaves broadly cuneate (4–10 × 2–5 mm, often irregularly lobed, lobes rounded, middle lobes overlapping lateral lobes); usually in clay soils; flower- ing early spring | subsp. longiloba |
2. Leaves narrowly cuneate (5–10 × 3–6 mm, lobed, lobes 1/2+ blade lengths, laterals to 1 mm wide, of-ten acute); usually in stony soils; flowering mid–late summer | subsp. thermopola |
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