Artemisia subg. Drancunculus
Artemisia porteri
Porter mugwort, Porter's wormwood
wandlike (new stems may sprout from caudices).
5–8, silver-gray, densely tomentose.
deciduous (persistent in A. aleutica and A. borealis), usually cauline, sometimes basal, not in fascicles.
persistent, silver-green, mostly basal;
proximalmost blades 3–4 × 1–1.5 cm, 1-pinnately lobed, lobes mostly 2–3 mm wide;
blades of flowering stems somewhat reduced, (1–)2–3(–5) × 0.15 cm, mostly entire;
apices rounded, faces densely hairy.
broadly campanulate, 4–5(–7) × 2–3 mm.
epaleate, glabrous.
peripheral 1–25 pistillate and fertile;
central 3–32 functionally staminate (not setting fruits);
corollas subglobose.
pistillate 8–10 (2–2.8 mm); functionally staminate 22–32;
corollas pale yellow, 2.2–4.5 mm, glandular.
(ovate, margins broadly scarious) densely tomentose.
disciform.
borne singly or (clustered in 2s and 3s on lateral branches; peduncles 0 or to 5 mm) in paniculiform arrays, (2–)4–9 × 1–1.5(–2) cm.
(light brown) ellipsoid, flattened (faintly nerved), 1.5–2 mm, sparsely hairy, glabrous or resinous.
Artemisia subg. Drancunculus
Artemisia porteri
Species ca. 80 (8 in the flora).
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Although Cronquist observed that Artemisia porteri may be an autopolyploid derivative of A. pedatifida, morphologic similarities to northerly cespitose taxa suggest a more complex origin.
Artemisia porteri is in the Center for Plant Conservation’s National Collection of Endangered Plants.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
1. Plants 5–30(–80+) cm (often cespitose and/or mounded) | → 2 |
1. Plants (10–)50–180 cm (not cespitose) | → 5 |
2. Perennials; leaves 2–3-palmately or -pinnately lobed | → 3 |
2. Perennials or subshrubs; leaves 1–2-pinnately or -ternately lobed | → 4 |
3. Leaves 2-palmately lobed; corollas purplish red; Aleutian Islands | A. aleutica |
3. Leaves 2–3-pinnately or -ternately lobed; corollas (at least lobes) usually yellow- orange or deep red; n latitudes and w mountains | A. borealis |
4. Leaves gray-green, lobes 1–2 mm wide; involucres 3–4 × 3–4 mm; corollas yellow, usually red-tinged, glabrous | A. pedatifida |
4. Leaves silver-green, lobes mostly 2–3 mm wide; involucres 4–5(–7) × 2–3 mm wide; corollas pale yellow, glandular | A. porteri |
5. Plants tarragon-scented or not aromatic; leaves mostly entire, sometimes (basal) irregularly lobed, faces usually glabrous, sometimes glabrescent (deserts) | A. dracunculus |
5. Plants faintly to strongly aromatic (not tarragon-scented); leaves lobed, faces hairy | → 6 |
6. Shrubs, 60–180 cm (rounded, stems wandlike); involucres 1.5–2 mm diam | A. filifolia |
6. Biennials or perennials, (10–)30–80(–150) cm; involucres 2–4.5(–7) mm diam | → 7 |
7. Stems usually 1–5; heads in (mostly leafless) paniculiform arrays | A. campestris |
7. Stems usually 10+; heads (clustered in glomerules) in (densely leafy) paniculiform to spiciform arrays | A. pycnocephala |
PNW Herbaria
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
