Artemisia cana is a species of sagebrush native to western and central North America; it is a member of the sunflower family. It is known by many common names, including silver sagebrush, sticky sagebrush, silver wormwood, hoary sagebrush, and dwarf sagebrush.CalFlora taxon report, University of California: Artemisia cana, silver sagebrushGRIN−National Plant Germplasm System: Artemisia cana
Distribution and habitat Artemisia cana, Silver sagebrush, is an aromatic shrub found in grasslands, floodplains and montane forests. Artemisia cana is native to the Canadian provinces of British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba and the American states of Alaska, Oregon, California, Idaho, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, North and South Dakota, Nebraska and Minnesota.Biota of North America Program 2014 county distribution map It grows in rocky, open grasslands and floodplains.
Description The type specimen of Artemisia cana was described informally by its collector, Meriwether Lewis (collected on October 1, 1804, in the vicinity of Centinel Creek in South Dakota, during the Lewis and Clark Expedition), in the following passage from Original Journals of Lewis and Clark, edited by Thwaites in 1904 :
On these hills many aromatic herbs are seen; resembling in taste, smel [ [] ] and appearance, the sage, hysop, wormwood, southernwood and two other herbs which are strangers to me the one resembling the camphor in taste and smell, rising to the height of 2 or 3 feet; the other about the same size, has a long narrow, smo[o]th, soft leaf of an agreeable smel [ sic ] and flavor; of this last the A[n]telope is very fond; they feed on it, and perfume the hair of their foreheads and necks with it by rubing [ sic ] against it.
Artemisia cana generally reaches in height, with examples west of the Continental Divide typically being shorter than those east of the divide.
The leaves have a narrow blade shape, are evergreen, grey-green in colour, and have a distinct aroma.
Subspecies Subspecies include: Artemisia cana subsp. bolanderi — Bolander's silver sagebrush, silver sagebrush — mountain meadows and streambanks in eastern California and Oregon, and northwestern Nevada.Calflora: Artemisia cana ssp. bolanderiJepson Manual eFlora: Artemisia cana ssp. bolanderiUSDA Plants: Artemisia cana ssp. bolanderi Artemisia cana subsp. cana — plains silver sagebrush, Coaltown sagebrush, silver sagebrush — most of species range.USDA Plants: Artemisia cana ssp. cana Artemisia cana subsp. viscidula — mountain silver sagebrush, Coaltown sagebrush, silver sagebrush — sagebrush lowlands in Great Basin, Colorado Plateau, Snake River Plain.USDA Plants: Artemisia cana ssp. viscidula
References
External links Calflora Database: Artemisia cana (Silver sagebrush) USDA Fire Sciences Laboratory: Artemisia cana Jepson Manual eFlora (TJM2) treatment of Artemisia cana subsp. bolanderi Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center−NPIN: Artemisia cana Saving The Sagebrush Sea