Artemisia tridentata |
Artemisia frigida |
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big sagebrush, blue sagebrush, common sagebrush, mountain sagebrush, sagebrush |
arctic sage, armoise douce, estafiata, fringe sage, fringe sagebrush, pasture sage, prairie sagebrush, prairie sagewort, prairie wormwood |
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Habit | Shrubs, 40–200(–300) cm (herbage gray-haired), aromatic; not root-sprouting (trunks relatively thick). | Perennials, 10–40 cm (forming silvery mats or mounds), strongly aromatic. | ||||||||||||
Stems | gray-brown, glabrate (bark gray, exfoliating in strips). |
gray-green or brown, glabrescent. |
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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. |
persistent, silver-gray; blades ovate, 0.5–1.5(–2.5) cm, 1–2-ternately lobed (lobes 0.2–0.5 mm wide), faces densely whitish-pubescent. |
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Involucres | lanceolate, (1–)1.5–4 × 1–3 mm. |
globose, (3–)5 × (2–)5–6 mm. |
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Florets | 3–8; corollas 1.5–2.5 mm, glabrous. |
pistillate 10–17; bisexual 20–50; corollas 1.5–2 mm, glabrous. |
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Phyllaries | oblanceolate to widely obovate, densely tomentose. |
gray-green (margins sometimes brownish), densely tomentose. |
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Heads | (usually erect, on slender peduncles) in paniculiform arrays 5–30 × 1–6 cm. |
in (leafy) paniculiform arrays 0.5–2(–4) × 4–15(–20) cm. |
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Cypselae | 1–2 mm, hairy or glabrous, glandular. |
1–1.5 mm, glabrous. |
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2n | = 18. |
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Artemisia tridentata |
Artemisia frigida |
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Phenology | Flowering summer–fall. | |||||||||||||
Habitat | Fields, meadows, dry grasslands, steppes, usually stony, well-drained soils | |||||||||||||
Elevation | 500–3300 m (1600–10800 ft) | |||||||||||||
Distribution |
AZ; CA; CO; ID; MT; ND; NE; NM; NV; OR; SD; UT; WA; WY; AB; BC; nw Mexico
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AK; AZ; CO; IA; ID; IL; KS; MN; MT; ND; NE; NM; SD; TX; UT; WA; WI; WY; AB; BC; MB; NB; NT; NU; ON; QC; SK; YT; Eurasia
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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.) |
Reports of Artemisia frigida from eastern Canada (Ontario eastward), the eastern United States (e.g., Connecticut, Massachusetts, Michigan, Vermont), and Arkansas and Missouri appear to be from old garden sites where the plants may persist. The similarity of this native species to cultivars from eastern Asia (especially Siberia) has led to a number of reports that are apparently based on other cultivars. As a plant with attractive silver foliage, this species has good potential as a drought-hardy plant for flower gardens in cold climates. (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 | A. frigida var. gmeliniana, A. frigida var. williamsiae | ||||||||||||
Name authority | Nuttall: Trans. Amer. Philos. Soc., n. s. 7: 398. (1841) | Willdenow: Sp. Pl. 3: 1838. (1803) | ||||||||||||
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