Flora of North America species comparison

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Artemisia rupestris

Artemisia spiciformis

sagebrush

big sagebrush, snowfield sagebrush, spike sagebrush
Habit Perennials, 5–15(–25) cm (cespitose), faintly aromatic. Shrubs, 30–80 cm (widely branched, gray-tomentose), aromatic; root-sprouting.
Stems

brownish purple, glabrous.

relatively numerous, brown or grayish green.
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.

± deciduous (by late summer, turning yellow);

blades lanceolate, oblanceolate, or cuneate, 2.5–5.5 × 0.8–1.2+ cm, entire or irregularly 3–6-lobed (lobes to 1/3 blade lengths, 1.5+ mm wide, rounded or acute; leaves of flowering stems usually smaller, entire), faces ± sericeous or tomentose.
Involucres

globose, 4–5(–7) × 4–5(–7) mm.

ovoid or lanceoloid, (2.5–)4–6(–7) 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).

8–18(–27);

corollas 2.5–3.5, glabrous.
Phyllaries

green (margins light green), ± hairy.

lanceolate, sparsely to densely hairy.
Heads

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

(erect) in (leafy) paniculiform arrays 8–15(–25) × 0.5–3(–4) cm.
Cypselae

ca. 1 mm (apices flat), glabrous.

1–1.5 mm, glabrous or resinous.
2n

= 18, 36, 54, 72.

Artemisia rupestris

Artemisia spiciformis
Phenology Flowering late summer–fall. Flowering mid summer–fall.
Habitat Steppes, alkaline meadows, stony slopes Moist open slopes, rocky meadows, streamsides, woodlands, late-lying snowfields
Elevation 0–1400 m (0–4600 ft) 2100–3700 m (6900–12100 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
YT; Asia
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
CA; CO; ID; NV; OR; UT; WA; WY
[WildflowerSearch 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.)

Often confused with Artemisia rothrockii, A. spiciformis has been recognized only recently as a widespread, high-elevation sagebrush of late-lying snowfields. Molecular analysis has not yet determined the degree to which this species intergrades with A. cana subsp. viscidula and A. tridentata subsp. vaseyana, the presumed parents of this putative hybrid. Because snow-field sagebrush produces fertile seeds and forms a stable community type, it is treated here as a distinct species.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 19, p. 520. FNA vol. 19, p. 515.
Parent taxa Asteraceae > tribe Anthemideae > Artemisia > subg. Absinthium Asteraceae > tribe Anthemideae > Artemisia > subg. Tridentatae
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. 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. stelleriana, A. suksdorfii, A. tilesii, A. tridentata, A. tripartita, A. vulgaris
Synonyms Absinthium viridifolium var. rupestre, A. rupestris subsp. woodii A. tridentata subsp. spiciformis, Seriphidium spiciforme
Name authority Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 2: 847. (1753) Osterhout: Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 27: 507. (1900)
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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