Al Schneider's Rocky Mountains Plant Descriptions

Black Sagebrush
Artemisia nova
Aster family (Asteraceae)

A close look at Black Sagebrush (Artemisia nova) shows it to be yellow-green, but from a distance the plant has a definite black cast to it. The plant grows in tight rounded clumps with numerous flower or seed stalks projecting from the top. Artemisia nova is commonly mistaken for a small Artemisia tridentata, but Artemisia nova never reaches the height and width of Artemisia tridentata. Artemisia nova likes thin, rocky soils in the foothills and mountains to about 8,000 feet. It often occurs in great numbers. Aven Nelson collected this plant in the late 1800s in Medicine Bow, Wyoming and named it in 1900. Latin gives us the specific epithet "nova" for "new."


©2012 Steve Matson

Description

Shrubs to 2'+ tall with main branches spreading. Flowering stems to 1' or more long. Leaves 1/8 to nearly 1" long, shallowly to deeply 3-5 or , the or rounded, often lead gray or gray green. narrow. Seldomly more than 1"+ wide. cylindric to narrowly , 8-12, to , green to yellow. Flowers 3-8, all . a .

Field Marks

Low, dark shrub with finely , narrow, hairy leaves. Flowers in late summer or fall.

© Al Schneider

lobe -- Being divided by clefts.

lobe -- A rounded parts of a leaf (or other organ).

perfect flower -- a bisexual flower, having both male and female parts.

Bracts are modified leaves associated with a flower.

Involucre is the name given to the circle or spiral collection of bracts around a flower-cluster.

achene -- a type of simple dry fruit produced by many species of flowering plants. For example, a rose hip holds a few achenes.

Like the teeth on a saw, leaves and other surfaces can have toothed edges.

fruit -- any seed-bearing structure in flowering plants. It is formed from the ovary after flowering.

canescent -- a white coating often due to fine grayish-white hairs.

campanulate -- bell shaped

glabrous -- smooth, glossy, having no bristles or hair-like structures. Bald.

An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem.