Artemisia tridentata |
Artemisia nesiotica |
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big sagebrush, blue sagebrush, common sagebrush, mountain sagebrush, sagebrush |
island sagebrush |
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Habit | Shrubs, 40–200(–300) cm (herbage gray-haired), aromatic; not root-sprouting (trunks relatively thick). | Subshrubs, 10–60 cm (rounded), aromatic. | ||||||||||||
Stems | gray-brown, glabrate (bark gray, exfoliating in strips). |
relatively numerous, ascending or prostrate, gray, simple or branched (slender, wandlike, soft, bases woody and brittle), densely canescent. |
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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. |
cauline, gray-green; blades linear-oblong, 3–5 × 1–2 cm, mostly 3-lobed (lobes 1–2 mm wide), faces gray-hairy. |
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Involucres | lanceolate, (1–)1.5–4 × 1–3 mm. |
broadly campanulate, 2.5 × 4–4.5 mm. |
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Florets | 3–8; corollas 1.5–2.5 mm, glabrous. |
pistillate 0; bisexual 20–50; corollas pale yellow, 1.2–1.5 mm, glandular. |
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Phyllaries | oblanceolate to widely obovate, densely tomentose. |
broadly ovate, densely hairy. |
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Heads | (usually erect, on slender peduncles) in paniculiform arrays 5–30 × 1–6 cm. |
(usually erect, sometimes nodding) in (leafy) paniculiform arrays 10–25 × 3–5(–7) cm. |
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Cypselae | 1–2 mm, hairy or glabrous, glandular. |
(light brown) ellipsoid (ribbed), 0.5 mm, resinous. |
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Artemisia tridentata |
Artemisia nesiotica |
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Phenology | Flowering mid–late summer. | |||||||||||||
Habitat | Rocky slopes, often fog-shrouded hillsides | |||||||||||||
Elevation | 0–100 m (0–300 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
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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 nesiotica is known only from the Channel Islands of California. It differs from the closely related A. californica by its shorter stature, wider leaf lobes, and larger heads. (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. 530. | ||||||||||||
Parent taxa | Asteraceae > tribe Anthemideae > Artemisia > subg. Tridentatae | Asteraceae > tribe Anthemideae > Artemisia > subg. Artemisia | ||||||||||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||||||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||||||||||
Synonyms | Seriphidium tridentatum | Crossostephium insulare, A. californica var. insularis | ||||||||||||
Name authority | Nuttall: Trans. Amer. Philos. Soc., n. s. 7: 398. (1841) | P. H. Raven: Aliso 5: 341. (1963) | ||||||||||||
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