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Aleutian mugwort, Cascade wormwood, Tilesius' wormwood

Habit Perennials, 20–60(–80) cm, mildly aromatic (rhizomes coarse).
Stems

1–3, erect, white, tomentose (on distal branches, hairs appressed) or glabrate.

Leaves

basal and cauline, bicolor (white and green);

blades (basal) linear to broadly lanceolate, 3–7(–10) × 2–5(–6) cm, coarsely pinnately lobed (cauline becoming linear distally), faces tomentose (abaxial) or glabrous (adaxial).

Involucres

broadly campanulate, 4–5 × 3.5–4 mm.

Florets

pistillate 9;

bisexual 25–60;

corollas yellow, 1.5–3 mm, glabrous (style branches included, erect, linear, relatively short, short-ciliate).

Phyllaries

(violet-brown) oval (outer) to elliptic or lanceolate, sparsely tomentose.

Heads

in compact to broadly branched, paniculiform arrays 1–20 × 2–6 cm.

Cypselae

oblong-linear (angular), 1.2–1.5 mm, glabrous.

2n

= 18, 36.

Artemisia tilesii

Phenology Flowering mid summer–early fall.
Habitat Arctic and alpine tundra, sandy, rocky slopes near shorelines
Elevation 0–2000 m (0–6600 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AK; ID; MT; OR; WA; AB; BC; MB; NT; NU; ON; QC; SK; YT; Asia (Russia)
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[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Artemisia tilesii has a bewildering array of variation in leaf and inflorescence morphology that has been separated into four infraspecific taxa recognized in some floras. I am unable to separate these taxa consistently and am including them within a broad circumscription of the species.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Source FNA vol. 19, p. 533.
Parent taxa 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. spiciformis, A. stelleriana, A. suksdorfii, A. tridentata, A. tripartita, A. vulgaris
Synonyms A. hookeriana, A. hultenii, A. tilesii var. aleutica, A. tilesii var. elatior, A. tilesii subsp. gormanii, A. tilesii subsp. hultenii, A. tilesii var. unalaschcensis, A. unalaskensis var. aleutica, A. vulgaris subsp. tilesii
Name authority Ledebour: Mém. Acad. Imp. Sci. St. Pétersbourg Hist. Acad. 5: 568. (1814)
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