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Scabland sagebrush

Artemisia rigida

Also called Stiff Sagebrush

Scabland sagebrush
Photo: Thayne Tuason, CC BY-SA 4.0
Family
Asteraceae (Daisy family)
Native range
NW. U.S.A.
Climate
temperate

About

Artemisia rigida is a species of flowering plant in the aster family known by the common names scabland sagebrush and stiff sagebrush. It is native to the northwestern United States, in Washington, Idaho, and Oregon. It has been recorded in western Montana but these sightings may have been misidentifications.

Where it grows

Artemisia rigida grows in harsh substrates where few other plants survive. The soil is generally very shallow and covers bedrock. The bedrock is always basalt, never granite. The roots of the plant are within the shallow soil layer with some anchoring in rock fractures. There is also sometimes a layer of impermeable clay. The substrate commonly undergoes frost heaving, which breaks it up. On these unproductive sites, which occur in the Channeled Scablands, for example, this plant is a climax species. It is an indicator of scabland habitat. In the Columbia Basin it often dominates regions with thin rocky soils, and has Sandberg's bluegrass as the main understory species along with various low herbaceous plants such as Viola trinervata and small Lomatium species.

Other Artemisia plants

Southernwood · Absinthium · African Wormwood · White Mugwort · Aleutian wormwood · Artemisia alpina · Sweet sagewort · Hedge Artemisia · Little sagebrush · Artemisia arenaria · Chinese Mugwort · Austrian Mugwort

Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Artemisia rigida by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts are shared under the same licence.

Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.

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