prairie sagewort

(Artemisia frigida)

Conservation Status
prairie sagewort
 
  IUCN Red List

not listed

     
  NatureServe

NNR - Unranked

SNR - Unranked

     
  Minnesota

not listed

     
           
           
 
Description
 
 

Prairie sagewort is an erect, long-lived, perennial forb that rises on up to 24 stems from a woody caudex. It forms a low mound or densely tangled, interwoven mass (mat). Like most Artemisia species, the leaves and stem are strongly aromatic when bruised.

It produces both flowering stems and non-flowering, vegetative stems. The lower stems are vegetative, short, often branched, woody, and spreading. The upper stems are flowering, herbaceous, and erect. They can be from 4 to 24 tall, but are usually no more than 16 in height. The stems are densely covered with short, grayish-white, woolly or felty hairs, giving them a grayish-green appearance.

Leaves are deciduous and 3 16 to long or longer. Lower leaves are on short leaf stalks, upper leaves are stalkless. There is often a pair of stipule-like lobes or leaflets at the base of the leaf stalk. The leaf blades are deeply divided into 3 primary lobes (ternate). The primary lobes may be divided into 3 secondary lobes (biternate), which may be again divided into 3 lobes (triternate). The ultimate lobes are narrowly linear, often thread-like, 1 64 to 1 16 wide, and are mostly sharply pointed at the tip. The upper and lower surfaces are densely covered with short, woolly or felty hairs, giving them a grayish-green appearance. The margins are untoothed and usually rolled under.

The inflorescence is an elongated, leafy, branched cluster (panicle) of at the end of the stems and branches. The panicles are 1½ to 6 long or longer, 3 16 to ¾ wide or wider, and have numerous flower heads.

The flower heads are ¼ in diameter. The whorl of bracts at the base of the flower head (involucre) is globe-shaped, about 3 16 long and wide, and 1 16 to high. The bracts of the involucre are in 2 or 3 overlapping rows, often indistinct, and moderately to densely covered with woolly hairs. The inner series of bracts have broad, thin, papery, transparent margins and tip. There are no ray florets. The disk has female (pistillate) florets as well as florets that have both male and female parts (perfect). On the margin of the disk are 10 to 17 pale yellow, pistillate florets. In the center are 20 to 50 pale yellow, perfect florets. The receptacle is covered with relatively long, soft, shaggy but unmatted hairs between the florets.

The fruit is a tiny achene.

 
     
 

Height

 
 

4 to 16

 
     
 

Flower Color

 
 

Pale yellow

 
     
 

Similar Species

 
 

 

 
     
 
Habitat
 
 

Dry. Prairies, fields, meadows, cliffs. Full sun.

 
     
 
Ecology
 
 

Flowering

 
 

July to September

 
     
 

Pests and Diseases

 
 

 

 
     
 
Use
 
 

 

 
     
 
Distribution
 
 

Distribution Map

 

Sources

2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 28, 29, 30.

 
  5/28/2023      
         
 

Nativity

 
 

Native

 
         
 

Occurrence

 
 

 

 
         
 
Taxonomy
 
  Kingdom Plantae (green algae and land plants)  
  Subkingdom Viridiplantae (green plants)  
  Infrakingdom Streptophyta (land plants and green algae)  
  Superdivision Embryophyta (land plants)  
  Division Tracheophyta (vascular plants)  
  Subdivision Spermatophytina (seed plants)  
  Class Magnoliopsida (flowering plants)  
  Superorder Asteranae  
 

Order

Asterales (sunflowers, bellflowers, fanflowers, and allies)  
 

Family

Asteraceae (sunflowers, daisies, asters, and allies)  
  Subfamily Asteroideae  
  Supertribe Asterodae  
  Tribe Anthemideae (chamomiles, yarrows, and allies)  
  Subtribe Artemisiinae  
  Genus Artemisia (wormwoods and sagebrushes)  
       
 

Synonyms

 
  Artemisia frigida var. williamsiae  
       
 

Common Names

 
 

fringed sage

fringed sage-wort

fringed sagebrush

fringed sagewort

prairie sagebrush

prairie sage-wort

prairie sagewort

sage wormwood

wormwood-sage

 

 

 

 

 

 

Glossary

Achene

A dry, one-chambered, single-seeded fruit, formed from a single carpel, with the seed attached to the membranous outer layer (wall) only by the seed stalk; the wall, formed entirely from the wall of the superior ovary, does not split open at maturity, but relies on decay or predation to release the contents.

 

Biternate

Twice ternate. A leaf divided into 3 segments, with each segment divided into 3 leaflets or lobes.

 

Herbaceous

Not woody.

 

Involucre

A whorl of bracts beneath or surrounding a flower or flower cluster.

 

Linear

Long, straight, and narrow, with more or less parallel sides, like a blade of grass.

 

Panicle

A pyramidal inflorescence with a main stem and branches. Flowers on the lower, longer branches mature earlier than those on the shorter, upper ones.

 

Receptacle

The thickened, upper part of a flower stalk to which flowers or flower parts are attached. In composite flowers, the part on which the flowers are borne. In accessory fruits the receptacle gives rise to the edible part of the fruit.

 

Stipule

A small, leaf-like, scale-like, glandular, or rarely spiny appendage found at the base of a leaf stalk, usually occurring in pairs and usually dropping soon.

 

Ternate

Refers to leaves that are divided into three leaflets or sections.

 
 
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  Artemisia frigida
Matt Lavin
 
  Artemisia frigida  
 
About

Native generally mat-forming subshrub or herb with stems to 60 cm tall. Grasslands, sagebrush steppe, overgrazed rangeland and generally moderately disturbed settings including roadsides. The pendulous heads with hairy receptacles are also found in Artemisia absinthium.

 

 

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