Flora of North America species comparison

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Artemisia spiciformis

Artemisia alaskana

big sagebrush, snowfield sagebrush, spike sagebrush

Alaska wormwood, alaskan sagebrush, Siberian wormwood
Habit Shrubs, 30–80 cm (widely branched, gray-tomentose), aromatic; root-sprouting. Perennials or subshrubs, 15–30(–60) cm (not cespitose), aromatic (caudices woody).
Stems

relatively numerous, brown or grayish green.

1–10, erect, gray-green, simple (suffrutescent from woody offsets), densely hairy to glabrescent.
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.

basal and cauline, mostly gray-green;

blades obovate, 1.5–5 × 0.5–1.5 cm, 3-lobed to 2-ternately lobed (lobes 0.5–3 mm wide, margins flat; cauline leaves smaller, sometimes entire), faces tomentose.
Involucres

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

broadly campanulate, 3.5–5 × 6–9 mm.
Florets

8–18(–27);

corollas 2.5–3.5, glabrous.

pistillate 8–10;

bisexual 20–45;

corollas yellow, 2–2.5 mm, glabrous or glandular.
Phyllaries

lanceolate, sparsely to densely hairy.

ovate (margins brownish or hyaline), tomentose.
Heads

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

(peduncles 0 or to 30 mm) in (leafy) paniculiform to racemiform arrays 12–25 × 1–4.5 cm.
Cypselae

1–1.5 mm, glabrous or resinous.

ellipsoid (flattened), 1–1.5 mm, glabrous.
2n

= 18, 36, 54, 72.

= 18.

Artemisia spiciformis

Artemisia alaskana
Phenology Flowering mid summer–fall. Flowering early–late summer.
Habitat Moist open slopes, rocky meadows, streamsides, woodlands, late-lying snowfields Well-drained soils, flood plains, gravel stream banks, roadsides, dry, rocky slopes, forest openings, alpine and arctic tundras
Elevation 2100–3700 m (6900–12100 ft) 100–2500 m (300–8200 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
CA; CO; ID; NV; OR; UT; WA; WY
[WildflowerSearch map]
from FNA
AK; BC; NT; YT
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.)

As circumscribed here, Artemisia alaskana is known from northwestern North America. The type specimen of A. alaskana is atypical, with longer peduncles and narrower leaf lobes than are found in most populations.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 19, p. 515. FNA vol. 19, p. 523.
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. rothrockii, A. rupestris, A. scopulorum, A. senjavinensis, A. serrata, A. stelleriana, A. suksdorfii, A. tilesii, A. tridentata, A. tripartita, A. vulgaris
A. abrotanum, A. absinthium, 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. spiciformis, A. stelleriana, A. suksdorfii, A. tilesii, A. tridentata, A. tripartita, A. vulgaris
Synonyms A. tridentata subsp. spiciformis, Seriphidium spiciforme A. tyrrellii
Name authority Osterhout: Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 27: 507. (1900) Rydberg: in N. L. Britton et al., N. Amer. Fl. 34: 281. (1916)
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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