E-Flora BC: Electronic Atlas of the Flora of British Columbia

Artemisia tridentata Nutt.
big sagebrush
Asteraceae (Aster Family)

Introduction to Vascular Plants

© Amelie Rousseau  Email the photographer   (Photo ID #6054)


Distribution of Artemisia tridentata
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Species Information

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Illustration SourceThe Illustrated Flora of BC

General:
Perennial, aromatic, evergreen shrub; stems solitary or branched from the base with shredding, grey or light brown bark when older, or with a dense, grooved, white-woolly hairiness when young, 0.1-2.0 m tall.
Leaves:
Principal leaves unstalked or short-stalked, silvery-hairy, typically wedge-shaped with 3 blunt teeth at the tips or sometimes 4-9 toothed or shallowly lobed, 1-4 (rarely 6) cm long, 2-13 mm wide.
Flowers:
Heads discoid, numerous in a narrow to broad inflorescence; involucres narrowly bell-shaped, 3.0-3.8 mm tall; involucral bracts elliptic to obtuse, greyish-hairy; receptacles glabrous; female flowers absent; disk flowers 3-6, sometimes up to 12 at higher elevations.
Fruits:
Achenes resinous-granular, rarely short-hairy.
Notes:
Recently, the var. wyominensis Beetle & A. Young has been reported in BC. At the present time, however, our material has not been studied with respect to this variety thus only our two traditional varieties are recognized here. They may be distinguished as follows:

1. Involucres narrowly bell-shaped, about 4 mm tall and 2 mm wide; plants of arid sites in the steppe and lower montane zones ..... var. tridentata

1. Involucres broader, about 5 mm tall and 4 mm wide; plants of cooler, mesic open sites in the upper montane and subalpine zones ..... var. vaseyana (Rydb.) Boivin

SourceThe Illustrated Flora of British Columbia

USDA Flower Colour:
Yellow
USDA Blooming Period:
Mid Summer
USDA Fruit/Seed characteristics:
Colour: Brown
Present from Summer to Fall
Source:  The USDA

Climate

The climate type for this species, as reported in the:  "British Columbia plant species codes and selected attributes. Version 6 Database" (Meidinger et al. 2008), is not evaluated, unknown or variable.

Habitat / Range

Dry to mesic meadows and slopes in the steppe to subalpine zones; common in SC BC, rare in SE BC; E to AB and S to ND, NM, AZ, and CA.

SourceThe Illustrated Flora of BC

Synonyms and Alternative Names

Artemisia spiciformis Osterh.
Artemisia tridentata subsp. trifida (Nutt.) H.M. Hall & Clem.
Artemisia tridentata var. parishii (A. Gray) Jeps.
Artemisia tridentata var. spiciformis (Osterh.) Dorn
Artemisia trifida Nutt.
Seriphidium tridentatum subsp. parishii (A. Gray) W.A. Weber
Seriphidium tripartitum (Rydb.) W.A. Weber

Taxonomic and Nomenclatural Links

Additional Photo Sources

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General References