Flora of North America species comparison

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Artemisia spiciformis

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

relatively numerous, brown or grayish green.
Leaves

± 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

ovoid or lanceoloid, (2.5–)4–6(–7) mm.
Florets

8–18(–27);

corollas 2.5–3.5, glabrous.
Phyllaries

lanceolate, sparsely to densely hairy.
Heads

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

1–1.5 mm, glabrous or resinous.
2n

= 18, 36, 54, 72.

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

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. 515.
Parent taxa 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. rupestris, A. scopulorum, A. senjavinensis, A. serrata, A. stelleriana, A. suksdorfii, A. tilesii, A. tridentata, A. tripartita, A. vulgaris
Synonyms A. tridentata subsp. spiciformis, Seriphidium spiciforme
Name authority 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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