Flora of North America species comparison

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Artemisia rupestris

Artemisia californica

sagebrush

California sagebrush, coastal sage brush
Habit Perennials, 5–15(–25) cm (cespitose), faintly aromatic. Shrubs, (20–)150–250 cm (rounded), pungently aromatic.
Stems

brownish purple, glabrous.

relatively numerous, arched, green or brown, branched (slender, wandlike, bases brittle), densely canescent to glabrate.
Leaves

deciduous, bright green;

blades (proximalmost petiolate) ovate, 1.5–5 × 1–2.5 cm, 2–3-pinnately lobed (cauline sessile, ternately or pinnately lobed, terminal lobes lance-linear, 1–6 × 0.5–1 mm), faces glabrous or sparsely hairy, glandular.

cauline, light green to gray;

blades filiform or spatulate to obovate, 3–5(–9) × 0.5–2 cm, sometimes pinnately lobed (lobes filiform, 0.5–1 mm wide), faces sparsely to densely hairy.
Involucres

globose, 4–5(–7) × 4–5(–7) mm.

globose, 2–3(–4) × 2–4(–5) mm.
Florets

pistillate 14–16 (glandular, style branches exsert, linear, spreading);

bisexual 40–70;

corollas 1.5–2 mm, glabrous or glandular (styles shorter than corollas).

pistillate 6–10;

bisexual 18–25;

corollas pale yellow, 0.8–1.2 mm, glabrous.
Phyllaries

green (margins light green), ± hairy.

broadly ovate, sparsely canescent.
Heads

(5–9, pedunculate or sessile, spreading or drooping) in spiciform arrays 3–9 × 0.5–1 cm.

(nodding at maturity, pedunculate) in paniculiform arrays 6–20 × 1–3 cm (branches erect to broadly spreading).
Cypselae

ca. 1 mm (apices flat), glabrous.

ellipsoid, 0.5–1.5 mm, resinous (pappi coroniform).
2n

= 18.

Artemisia rupestris

Artemisia californica
Phenology Flowering late summer–fall. Flowering early–late summer.
Habitat Steppes, alkaline meadows, stony slopes Coastal scrub, dry foothills
Elevation 0–1400 m (0–4600 ft) 0–800 m (0–2600 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
YT; Asia
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
CA; Mexico (Baja California)
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

The sole North American occurrence of Artemisia rupestris in southwestern Yukon is a remarkable disjunction from the Asiatic range of this species.

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

Artemisia californica is the common sagebrush of chaparral in southern California. Its threadlike leaves and green flowering heads distinguish it from any other shrub in California. Artemisia nesiotica, an endemic of the Channel Islands that was initially considered a morphologic variant of A. californica, is distinct in size and form. Systematic placement of the complex may be problematic. The molecular phylogeny of L. E. Watson et al. (2002) suggests an alignment of A. californica within subg. Tridentatae. Based on this finding, a subgeneric realignment of this species may be in order. The odor of A. californica is markedly like that of the culinary mints known as common sage (Salvia species).

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 19, p. 520. FNA vol. 19, p. 524.
Parent taxa Asteraceae > tribe Anthemideae > Artemisia > subg. Absinthium 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. rothrockii, 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. 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 Absinthium viridifolium var. rupestre, A. rupestris subsp. woodii A. abrotanoides, A. fischeriana, A. foliosa, Crossostephium californicum
Name authority Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 2: 847. (1753) Lessing: Linnaea 6: 523. (1831)
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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