Artemisia rigida

(Nuttall) A. Gray

Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 19: 49. 1883.

Common names: Scabland sagebrush
Endemic
Basionym: Artemisia trifida var. rigida Nuttall Trans. Amer. Philos. Soc., n. s. 7: 398. 1841
Synonyms: Seriphidium rigidum (Nuttall) W. A. Weber
Treatment appears in FNA Volume 19. Treatment on page 515. Mentioned on page 510.

Shrubs, 20–40 cm (branches widely spreading), mildly aromatic; root-sprouting (caudices stout). Stems gray (coarse, brittle), hairy (bark gray, exfoliating). Leaves deciduous, silver-gray (rigid); blades broadly spatulate, 1.5–4 × 0.5–0.7 cm (bases narrow), 3-lobed (lobes 1/2+ blade lengths, ca. 1 mm wide), faces densely hairy. Heads borne singly or (in glomerules) in (densely leafy) spiciform or paniculiform arrays 2–20 × 2 cm. Involucres narrowly campanulate, 4–5 × 2.5–3.5 mm. Phyllaries elliptic (acute to obtuse), densely canescent. Florets 4–8; corollas yellowish red to red, 2–2.8 mm (style branches oblong, truncate, exsert). Cypselae (4–5-ribbed) 1–1.5 mm, glabrous. 2n = 18, 36.


Phenology: Flowering mid summer–early fall.
Habitat: Dry rocky scablands, volcanic plains
Elevation: 1500–1800 m

Distribution

V19-873-distribution-map.gif

Idaho, Mont., Oreg., Wash.

Discussion

Artemisia rigida is an important successional species following fires because the plants form new shoots from the underground caudices. This characteristic aligns the species with other ‘sprouters’ in the subgenus, namely A. cana, A. tripartita, and A. arbuscula.

Selected References

None.

Lower Taxa

None.
... more about "Artemisia rigida"
Leila M. Shultz +
(Nuttall) A. Gray +
Artemisia trifida var. rigida +
Scabland sagebrush +
Idaho +, Mont. +, Oreg. +  and Wash. +
1500–1800 m +
Dry rocky scablands, volcanic plains +
Flowering mid summer–early fall. +
Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts +
Seriphidium rigidum +
Artemisia rigida +
Artemisia subg. Tridentatae +
species +