Flora of North America species comparison

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Artemisia tridentata

Artemisia tilesii

big sagebrush, blue sagebrush, common sagebrush, mountain sagebrush, sagebrush

Aleutian mugwort, Cascade wormwood, Tilesius' wormwood
Habit Shrubs, 40–200(–300) cm (herbage gray-haired), aromatic; not root-sprouting (trunks relatively thick). Perennials, 20–60(–80) cm, mildly aromatic (rhizomes coarse).
Stems

gray-brown, glabrate (bark gray, exfoliating in strips).

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

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

lanceolate, (1–)1.5–4 × 1–3 mm.

broadly campanulate, 4–5 × 3.5–4 mm.
Florets

3–8;

corollas 1.5–2.5 mm, glabrous.

pistillate 9;

bisexual 25–60;

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

oblanceolate to widely obovate, densely tomentose.

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

(usually erect, on slender peduncles) in paniculiform arrays 5–30 × 1–6 cm.

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

1–2 mm, hairy or glabrous, glandular.

oblong-linear (angular), 1.2–1.5 mm, glabrous.
2n

= 18, 36.

Artemisia tridentata

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
AZ; CA; CO; ID; MT; ND; NE; NM; NV; OR; SD; UT; WA; WY; AB; BC; nw Mexico
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AK; ID; MT; OR; WA; AB; BC; MB; NT; NU; ON; QC; SK; YT; Asia (Russia)
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
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 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.)
Key
1. Shrubs 100–200(–300) cm (leaf blades: lengths usually 3+ times widths); heads in relatively broad, paniculiform arrays
→ 2
1. Shrubs 30–150 cm (leaf blades: lengths usually less than 3 times widths); heads in relatively narrow, paniculiform arrays
→ 3
2. Involucres 1.5–2.5 × 1–2 mm; deep, well drained (usually sandy) soils in valley bottoms, lower montane slopes along drainages
subsp. tridentata
2. Involucres 2–4 × 1–2 mm; loose, sandy soils of valleys and foothills
subsp. parishii
3. Shrubs, 60–80(–150) cm (crowns flat-topped); heads in arrays 10–15 cm; involucres 2–3 × 1.5–3 mm; mountains
subsp. vaseyana
3. Shrubs, 30–50(–150) cm (crowns rounded); heads in arrays 2–6(–8) cm; involucres (1–)1.5–2 × 1.5–2 mm; usually cold-desert basins and high plateaus, sometimes foothills
subsp. wyomingensis
Source FNA vol. 19, p. 516. FNA vol. 19, p. 533.
Parent taxa Asteraceae > tribe Anthemideae > Artemisia > subg. Tridentatae 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. tilesii, A. tripartita, A. vulgaris
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
Subordinate taxa
A. tridentata subsp. parishii, A. tridentata subsp. tridentata, A. tridentata subsp. vaseyana, A. tridentata subsp. wyomingensis
Synonyms Seriphidium tridentatum 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 Nuttall: Trans. Amer. Philos. Soc., n. s. 7: 398. (1841) Ledebour: Mém. Acad. Imp. Sci. St. Pétersbourg Hist. Acad. 5: 568. (1814)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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