Al Schneider's Rocky Mountains Plant Descriptions

Silver Sagebrush
Artemisia cana
Aster family (Asteraceae)

Silver Sagebrush has fairy uniform leaves, woody base, and a wispy appearance on top. The sweet smell of sagebrush after a rain is a memory of the West. Crush a few leaves in your hand and rub it on for a little "cowboy perfume." Sagebrush is used as an , medicinal remedy, insect repellent and mattress stuffing. Young shoots of Silver Sagebrush look similar to Louisiana Wormwood (Artemisia ludoviciana), but Silver Wormwood does not have woody stems and grows in large patches rather than in shrub form. "Cana" means "gray."


©2012 Matt Lavin

Description

Erect aromatic shrub, 1-4' tall. Leaves and young twigs typically gray. Leaves are silver-gray, , and , terminating in a single tip. Leaves often persist through the winter. Numerous flowerheads in tall narrow clusters consist of small yellow flowers with well-developed . Commonly spreads by . Plant has distinctive sage smell when leaves are crushed.

Field Marks

Silver-gray, aromatic shrub, , with leaves.

© Al Schneider

An evergreen tree retains a large portion of its green leaves all year.

An entire leaf has smooth edges. Not toothed or lobed.

linear -- Long and very narrow like a blade of grass.

A herb is a plant whose stems die back to the ground in the winter.

Bracts are modified leaves associated with a flower.

alternate -- leaves alternate along the main stem and are attached singly.

rhizome -- root-like stems that may either grow horizontally at the soil surface or in other orientations underground.