Flora of North America species comparison

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Artemisia rothrockii

Artemisia michauxiana

Rothrock sagebrush, sticky sagebrush, timberline sagebrush

lemon sagewort, Michaux' wormwood, Michaux's mugwort, Michaux's wormwood
Habit Shrubs, 20–50 cm (sticky-resinous and dark green throughout), pungently aromatic; not root-sprouting (trunks relatively narrow). Perennials, 30–100 cm, strongly aromatic (lemon-scented; rhizomatous).
Stems

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

relatively many, erect, green, simple, glabrous.
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.

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.
Involucres

broadly ovoid, 3–5 × 4–6 mm.

campanulate, 3(–4) × 2–5.5 mm.
Florets

12–20;

corollas 2.5–3.5 mm.

pistillate 9–12;

bisexual 15–35;

corollas yellow, 1–1.5 mm, glandular.
Phyllaries

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

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

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

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

0.8–2 mm, (smooth), resinous.

(yellow to light brown) ellipsoid, ca. 0.5 mm, glabrous or glandular.
2n

= 36, 54, 72.

= 18, 36.

Artemisia rothrockii

Artemisia michauxiana
Phenology Flowering mid summer–all. Flowering mid summer–early fall.
Habitat Clay soils of mountain meadows Talus slopes, alpine and subalpine drainages
Elevation 2500–3100 m (8200–10200 ft) 1900–3700 m (6200–12100 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
CA
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
CA; CO; ID; MT; NV; OR; UT; WA; WY; AB; BC; YT
[WildflowerSearch map]
[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.)

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.)
Source FNA vol. 19, p. 515. FNA vol. 19, p. 530.
Parent taxa Asteraceae > tribe Anthemideae > Artemisia > subg. Tridentatae 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. 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. 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
Synonyms A. tridentata subsp. rothrockii, Seriphidium rothrockii A. discolor, A. vulgaris subsp. michauxiana
Name authority A. Gray: in W. H. Brewer et al., Bot. California 1: 618. (1876) Besser: in W. J. Hooker, Fl. Bor.-Amer. 1: 324. (1833)
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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