Artemisia tridentata |
Artemisia absinthium |
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big sagebrush, blue sagebrush, common sagebrush, mountain sagebrush, sagebrush |
absinth wormwood, absinthe, absinthe wormwood, absinthium, armoise absinthe, common wormwood, green ginger, oldman, oldman wormwood, wormwood |
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Habit | Shrubs, 40–200(–300) cm (herbage gray-haired), aromatic; not root-sprouting (trunks relatively thick). | Perennials, 40–60(–100) cm (mat-forming), aromatic. | ||||||||||||
Stems | gray-brown, glabrate (bark gray, exfoliating in strips). |
gray-green (sometimes woody proximally), densely canescent to glabrescent (hairs appressed). |
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Leaves | persistent, gray-green; blades usually cuneate, (0.4–)0.5–3.5 × 0.1–0.7 cm, 3-lobed (lobes to 1/3 blade lengths, 1.5+ mm wide, rounded), faces densely hairy. |
deciduous, gray-green; blades broadly ovate, 3–8 × 1–4 cm, mostly pinnately lobed (basal 2–3-pinnatifid, lobes obovate), faces densely canescent. |
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Involucres | lanceolate, (1–)1.5–4 × 1–3 mm. |
broadly ovoid, 2–3 × 3–5 mm. |
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Florets | 3–8; corollas 1.5–2.5 mm, glabrous. |
pistillate 9–20; bisexual 30–50; corollas 1–2 mm, glandular. |
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Phyllaries | oblanceolate to widely obovate, densely tomentose. |
gray-green, densely sericeous. |
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Heads | (usually erect, on slender peduncles) in paniculiform arrays 5–30 × 1–6 cm. |
(nodding) in open (diffusely branched), paniculiform arrays 10–20(–35) × (2–)10–13(–15) cm. |
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Cypselae | 1–2 mm, hairy or glabrous, glandular. |
(± cylindric, slightly curved, obscurely nerved), ± 0.5 mm, glabrous (shiny). |
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2n | = 18. |
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Artemisia tridentata |
Artemisia absinthium |
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Phenology | Flowering mid summer–fall. | |||||||||||||
Habitat | Widely cultivated, persisting from plantings, disturbed areas | |||||||||||||
Elevation | 0–1000 m (0–3300 ft) | |||||||||||||
Distribution |
AZ; CA; CO; ID; MT; ND; NE; NM; NV; OR; SD; UT; WA; WY; AB; BC; nw Mexico
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CA; CO; CT; IA; ID; IL; IN; KS; MA; MD; ME; MI; MN; MO; MT; NC; ND; NE; NH; NJ; NY; OH; OR; PA; RI; SC; SD; TN; UT; VT; WA; WI; WY; AB; BC; MB; NB; NF; NS; ON; PE; QC; SK; Europe [Introduced in North America]
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Discussion | Subspecies 4 (4 in the flora). Artemisia tridentata has undergone considerable taxonomic revision in the past century and circumscription of subspecies remains a topic of considerable controversy. Workers in the field should be aware of the morphologic variation within the subspecies across the range of the species (i.e., approximately from the Sierra Nevada in the west to the plains of the Rocky Mountains in the east). Because rangeland managers and conservationists can often identify local morphologic and chemical races based on grazing or habitat preferences of wildlife and domestic animals, some impetus exists to further subdivide the subspecies within A. tridentata at the varietal level. This treatment of the species complex remains conservative in light of the need for further study. As to chemical differences among the subspecies, aroma is often used to distinguish subspecies in the field. Volatile resins in the plants are strongly aromatic and, when crushed, leaves have very distinctive (although not easily described) aromas. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Artemisia absinthium provides the flavoring as well as the psychoactive ingredient for absinthe liquor, a beverage that is illegal in some markets. Known as a powerful neurotoxin, absinthe in large quantities is addictive as well as deadly. The species is popular in the horticultural trade. Prized by gardeners for its gracefully scalloped leaves and gray-green foliage, it creates an attractive and winter-hardy flower border. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 19, p. 516. | FNA vol. 19, p. 519. | ||||||||||||
Parent taxa | Asteraceae > tribe Anthemideae > Artemisia > subg. Tridentatae | Asteraceae > tribe Anthemideae > Artemisia > subg. Absinthium | ||||||||||||
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Subordinate taxa | ||||||||||||||
Synonyms | Seriphidium tridentatum | |||||||||||||
Name authority | Nuttall: Trans. Amer. Philos. Soc., n. s. 7: 398. (1841) | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 2: 848. (1753) | ||||||||||||
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