Flora of North America species comparison

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Artemisia rupestris

Artemisia filifolia

sagebrush

sand sage, sand sagebrush, sandhill sage, silvery wormwood
Habit Perennials, 5–15(–25) cm (cespitose), faintly aromatic. Shrubs, 60–180 cm (rounded), faintly aromatic.
Stems

brownish purple, glabrous.

green or gray-green, wandlike (usually slender, curved, sometimes stout and stunted in harsh habitats), glabrous or sparsely hairy.
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.

gray-green;

blades linear if entire, obovate if lobed, (1.5–)2–5(–6) × 0.1–2.5 cm, entire to 3-lobed, lobes filiform (less than 1 mm wide), apices acute, glabrous or sparsely hairy.
Involucres

globose, 4–5(–7) × 4–5(–7) mm.

globose, 1.5–2 × 1.5–2 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 1–4; functionally staminate 3–6;

corollas pale yellow, 1–1.5 mm, glabrous.
Phyllaries

green (margins light green), ± hairy.

(ovate, inconspicuous, margins scarious) densely hairy.
Heads

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

(mostly sessile) in paniculiform arrays 8–15(–17) × 2–4(–5) cm (branches erect to somewhat recurved).
Cypselae

ca. 1 mm (apices flat), glabrous.

oblong (distally incurved-falcate and oblique), 0.2–0.5 mm, obscurely nerved, glabrous.
2n

= 18.

Artemisia rupestris

Artemisia filifolia
Phenology Flowering late summer–fall. Flowering late summer–early winter.
Habitat Steppes, alkaline meadows, stony slopes Open prairies, dunes, sandy soils
Elevation 0–1400 m (0–4600 ft) 500–2000 m (1600–6600 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
YT; Asia
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AZ; CO; KS; NE; NM; NV; OK; SD; TX; UT; WY
[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.)

One of the more easily distinguished of the shrubby Artemisia species, A. filifolia occurs in sandy soils and cohabits with species of Yucca, Cactaceae, and Salvia dorrii, the purple sage of western literary fame. Its filiform leaves and faintly aromatic foliage distinguish it from members of subg. Tridentatae.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 19, p. 520. FNA vol. 19, p. 508.
Parent taxa Asteraceae > tribe Anthemideae > Artemisia > subg. Absinthium 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. 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. californica, A. campestris, A. cana, A. carruthii, A. douglasiana, A. dracunculus, 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. plattensis, Oligosporus filifolius
Name authority Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 2: 847. (1753) Torrey: Ann. Lyceum Nat. Hist. New York 2: 211. (1827)
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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