Flora of North America species comparison

The green links below add additional plants to the comparison table. Blue links lead to other Web sites.
enable glossary links

Artemisia spiciformis

Artemisia annua

big sagebrush, snowfield sagebrush, spike sagebrush

annual wormwood, armoise annuelle, sweet annie, sweet sagewort
Habit Shrubs, 30–80 cm (widely branched, gray-tomentose), aromatic; root-sprouting. Annuals, 30–200(–300) cm, sweetly aromatic.
Stems

relatively numerous, brown or grayish green.

mostly 1, erect, green, turning to reddish brown with age, simple (smooth or ribbed), glabrous or sparsely hairy.
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.

cauline, bright green;

blades triangular to broadly ovate, 2–5(–10) × 2–4 cm, 2–3-pinnatifid (lobes relatively narrow, ± toothed), faces glabrous, gland-dotted.
Involucres

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

globose, 1.5–2.5 × 1.5–2.5 mm.
Florets

8–18(–27);

corollas 2.5–3.5, glabrous.

pistillate (0–)10–20;

bisexual 18–24;

corollas pale yellow (broadly campanulate), 0.5–1 mm, glabrous.
Phyllaries

lanceolate, sparsely to densely hairy.

(green) lanceolate, glabrous.
Heads

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

(nodding, peduncles 2–5 mm) in open, (diffusely branched, leafy) arrays 15–30(–40) × 10–20 cm.
Cypselae

1–1.5 mm, glabrous or resinous.

oblong (flattened), 0.3–0.8 mm, glabrous.
2n

= 18, 36, 54, 72.

= 18.

Artemisia spiciformis

Artemisia annua
Phenology Flowering mid summer–fall. Flowering late summer–fall.
Habitat Moist open slopes, rocky meadows, streamsides, woodlands, late-lying snowfields Moist waste areas, sandy soils
Elevation 2100–3700 m (6900–12100 ft) 0–2000 m (0–6600 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
CA; CO; ID; NV; OR; UT; WA; WY
[WildflowerSearch map]
from FNA
AL; AR; AZ; CA; CO; CT; DC; DE; IA; ID; IL; IN; KS; KY; LA; MA; MD; ME; MI; MS; MT; NC; NE; NH; NJ; NY; OH; OK; OR; PA; TN; TX; VA; VT; WA; WI; WV; WY; NB; ON; QC; Eurasia [Introduced in North America]
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county 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.)

Widely cultivated for aromatic oils, Artemisia annua often persists in gardens, becoming naturalized in moist-temperate areas (especially in eastern United States). Reports of naturalization may be exaggerated (reported for Prince Edward Island, but not established).

The systematic placement of this species appears to align most closely with species of the Eurasian subg. Seriphidium (L. E. Watson et al. 2002). Molecular evidence suggests that the Artemisia annua lineage may be ancestral to woody species in the Old World.

(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. alaskana, A. aleutica, 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. chamomilla
Name authority Osterhout: Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 27: 507. (1900) Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 2: 847. (1753)
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).



Type/paste one or more Latin names into the boxes above; matching taxa will show up below the box as you type. You can use the up/down arrow keys to move through the list.

(If the plant you're looking for doesn't show up in the auto-complete list, that means it either isn't described in Flora of North America yet, or it's listed under a synonym. And please note that Flora of North America is still missing several plant families, including Apiaceae, Boraginaceae, and Polemoniaceae.)

Choose a data source: Flora of North America, OregonFlora, UW Burke Herbarium

The species comparison tool is brought to you by:
Northwest Wildflowers