Artemisia filifolia

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Artemisia filifolia
Artemisia filifolia.jpg
Status TNC G5.svg
Secure  (NatureServe)
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Asterales
Family: Asteraceae
Genus: Artemisia
Species:
A. filifolia
Binomial name
Artemisia filifolia
Synonyms [1]
  • Artemisia plattensisNutt.
  • Oligosporus filifolius(Torr.) Poljakov
  • Oligosporus filifolius(Torr.) W.A.Weber

Artemisia filifolia, known by common names including sand sagebrush, sand sage and sandhill sage, is a species of flowering plant in the aster family. [2] It is native to North America, where it occurs from Nevada east to South Dakota and from there south to Arizona, Chihuahua, and Texas. [3] [4] [5]

Contents

Description

Artemisia filifolia is a branching woody shrub growing up to 1.5 metres (4 ft 11 in) tall. The stems are covered narrow, threadlike leaves up to 8 centimetres (3.1 in) long and no more than half a millimeter wide. The leaves are sometimes split into segments. They are solitary or arranged in fascicles. The inflorescence is a panicle of hanging flower heads. Each head contains sterile disc florets and 2 to 3 fertile ray florets. The fruit is a tiny achene. The achenes do not tend to disperse far from the parent plant. [3] [2] The leaf color is grayish-green. The flower color is either yellow or brown. The bloom time is between the months of August, September, October, and November. [6]

Ecology

Artemisia filifolia is a dominant species across much of the west-central United States, particularly in areas where the substrate is a deep, sandy soil. [3] It is an indicator of sandy soils. It is efficient for preventing erosion on such soils. [7] It is common in parts of the Great Plains, where it is a dominant component of prairie, grassland, and shrubland ecosystems alongside grasses such as sand bluestem, grama grasses, sand reedgrass, little bluestem, and sand dropseed. [8] Some regions dominated by this sagebrush include the occurrences of the sandsage prairie from Nebraska to central Texas, various river systems in eastern Colorado and Kansas, [8] the sandhills and mixed-grass prairies of Colorado, and parts of southeastern Wyoming. In Texas, it is common in the Trans-Pecos region, where it grows with honey mesquite, and many other areas in the state where it grows with sand shinnery oak. [3]

This ecosystem is most commonly affected by fire and grazing. [8] Before modern fire suppression, the ecosystem was maintained by a pattern of disturbance caused by natural wildfire and grazing by bison, a pattern which is called pyric herbivory .

Rangeland impact

When humans began to use this terrain as rangeland, this system was altered, causing a homogenization of life forms in the habitat. [9] A balanced regime of fire and grazing is required to sustain the biodiversity of this type of rangeland. [10] Fire also helps prevent the succession of woody vegetation onto shrublands. The sagebrush is tolerant of fire, resprouting vigorously after its aboveground parts are burned away. [3] [11]

Ecosystem

Sand sagebrush ecosystems are important habitat types for many animals. Prairie dogs build towns in sandy sage grassland, and when they abandon them, burrowing owls move in. Sage grouse live in sand sagebrush, though they prefer big sagebrush. Some animals eat the seeds, such as lesser prairie chickens and scaled quail. [3] Lesser prairie chickens also use it for cover and nesting purposes. [11] Extensive removal of sand sagebrush has been shown to reduce the diversity and abundance of breeding birds in the habitat. [12]

Despite its importance in numerous ecosystems, this sagebrush can become a troublesome weed. [13] One method of control is burning, then placing livestock where they will graze the new sprouts as they come up. [3] It is also controlled with herbicides [13] and mowing. [3]

Commercial use

Sand sagebrush seed is sold commercially. It is sometimes used for revegetation efforts on rangeland and coal fields. [3] The Navajo had several uses for the plant. It was used medicinally and for ritual purposes. Being quite soft, it was used as toilet paper. [3] [14]

Related Research Articles

<i>Artemisia</i> (plant) Genus of flowering plants in the daisy family Asteraceae

Artemisia is a large, diverse genus of plants belonging to the daisy family Asteraceae, with between 200 and 400 species. Common names for various species in the genus include mugwort, wormwood, and sagebrush.

<i>Artemisia tridentata</i> Species of plant

Artemisia tridentata, commonly called big sagebrush, Great Basin sagebrush or (locally) simply sagebrush, is an aromatic shrub from the family Asteraceae, which grows in arid and semi-arid conditions, throughout a range of cold desert, steppe, and mountain habitats in the Intermountain West of North America. The vernacular name "sagebrush" is also used for several related members of the genus Artemisia, such as California sagebrush.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rangeland</span> Biomes which can be grazed by animals or livestock (grasslands, woodlands, prairies, etc)

Rangelands are grasslands, shrublands, woodlands, wetlands, and deserts that are grazed by domestic livestock or wild animals. Types of rangelands include tallgrass and shortgrass prairies, desert grasslands and shrublands, woodlands, savannas, chaparrals, steppes, and tundras. Rangelands do not include forests lacking grazable understory vegetation, barren desert, farmland, or land covered by solid rock, concrete and/or glaciers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sagebrush steppe</span> Grassland ecosystem

Sagebrush steppe is a type of shrub-steppe, a plant community characterized by the presence of shrubs, and usually dominated by sagebrush, any of several species in the genus Artemisia. This ecosystem is found in the Intermountain West in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shrub–steppe</span>

Shrub-steppe is a type of low-rainfall natural grassland. While arid, shrub-steppes have sufficient moisture to support a cover of perennial grasses or shrubs, a feature which distinguishes them from deserts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ord's kangaroo rat</span> Species of rodent

Ord's kangaroo rat is a kangaroo rat native to western North America, specifically the Great Plains and the Great Basin, with its range extending from extreme southern Canada to central Mexico.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shortgrass prairie</span> Ecosystem located on the North American Great Plains

The shortgrass prairie is an ecosystem located in the Great Plains of North America. The two most dominant grasses in the shortgrass prairie are blue grama and buffalograss, the two less dominant grasses in the prairie are greasegrass and sideoats grama. The prairie was formerly maintained by grazing pressure of American bison, which is the keystone species. Due to its semiarid climate, the shortgrass prairie receives on average less precipitation than that of the tall and mixed grass prairies to the east.

<i>Gutierrezia sarothrae</i> Species of flowering plant

Gutierrezia sarothrae is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae known by the common names broom snakeweed, broomweed, snakeweed, and matchweed. It is a subshrub native to much of the western half of North America, from western Canada to northern Mexico, and can be found in a number of arid, grassland, and mountain habitats. It can be toxic to livestock in large quantities, due mainly to the presence of saponins.

<i>Artemisia ludoviciana</i> Species of plant

Artemisia ludoviciana is a North American species of flowering plant in the daisy family Asteraceae, known by several common names, including silver wormwood, western mugwort, Louisiana wormwood, white sagebrush, lobed cud-weed, prairie sage, and gray sagewort.

<i>Artemisia bigelovii</i> Species of flowering plant

Artemisia bigelovii is a North American species of sagebrush known by the common name Bigelow sagebrush or flat sagebrush. It grows in the deserts of the southwestern United States.

<i>Artemisia nova</i> Species of flowering plant

Artemisia nova is a North American species of sagebrush, known by the common name black sagebrush. It is "one of the most common shrubs in the western United States".

<i>Chrysothamnus viscidiflorus</i> Species of flowering plant

Chrysothamnus viscidiflorus is a species of shrub in the family Asteraceae of the Americas known by the common names yellow rabbitbrush and green rabbitbrush.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sagebrush</span> Index of plants with the same common name

Sagebrush is the common name of several woody and herbaceous species of plants in the genus Artemisia. The best known sagebrush is the shrub Artemisia tridentata. Sagebrushes are native to the North American west.

Lloyd Clair Hulbert was a professor of biology at Kansas State University from 1955 until 1986. He was recognized for his work to establish Konza Prairie and served as its first director from 1971-1986. Hulbert was internationally known for his "research of bluestem (tallgrass) prairie and prairie-forest interactions."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pinyon–juniper woodland</span> Biome of Western United States higher elevation deserts

Pinyon–juniper woodland, also spelled piñon–juniper woodland, is a biome found mid-elevations in arid regions of the Western United States, characterized by being an open forest dominated by low, bushy, evergreen junipers, pinyon pines, and their associates which vary from region to region. At lower elevations, junipers often predominate and trees are spaced widely, bordering on and mingling with grassland or shrubland, but as elevation increases, pinyon pines become common and trees grow closer, forming denser canopies. Historically, pinyon-juniper woodland has provided a vital source of fuel and food for peoples of the American Southwest. These nuts have also provided a crucial source of food for species such as the Pinyon jay, which have become threatened as landowners have historically tried to convert large areas of pinyon-juniper woodland to grazing lands.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wyoming Basin shrub steppe</span> Xeric shrubland ecoregion of the western United States

The Wyoming Basin shrub steppe ecoregion, within the deserts and xeric shrublands biome, is a shrub steppe in the northwestern United States.

<i>Artemisia frigida</i> Species of flowering plant

Artemisia frigida is a widespread species of flowering plant in the aster family, which is known as the sunflower family. It is native to Europe, Asia, and much of North America. In parts of the north-central and northeastern United States it is an introduced species.

Chenopodium cycloides is a species of flowering plant in the family Amaranthaceae known by the common name sandhill goosefoot. It is native to the south-central United States.

The flora of the Colorado Plateau and Canyonlands region is generally characterized by plant adaptations to the arid conditions of the region, and a wide variation of plant communities from wide variations in elevation and soil types. The elevation variation results in temperature variation. Differing soil types are largely due to erosion of different sedimentary layers in the canyons, from the layers at lowest point of canyons of the Colorado River network, to the top layers of the plateau. Exceptions to flora adapted to aridity occur in lowland riparian areas, at springs, and in hanging gardens.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Central Plains Biosphere Reserve</span>

The Central Plains Biosphere Reserve was a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve located in the western central Great Plains in north-central Colorado in the shortgrass prairie. The 6,210 hectares (24.0 sq mi) reserve encompasses the Central Plains Experimental Range (CPER) administered by the United States Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service.

References

  1. The Plant List Artemisia filifolia Torr.
  2. 1 2 Flora of North America Vol. 19, 20 and 21 Page 508 Sand sage Artemisia filifolia Torrey, Ann. Lyceum Nat. Hist. New York. 2: 211. 1827.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 McWilliams, Jack (2003). Artemisia filifolia. In: Fire Effects Information System, [Online]. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Fire Sciences Laboratory. Retrieved 12-26-2011.
  4. Biota of North America Program 2014 county distribution map
  5. Turner, B. L. 1996. The Comps of Mexico: A systematic account of the family Asteraceae, vol. 6. Tageteae and Athemideae. Phytologia Memoirs 10: i–ii, 1–22, 43–93.
  6. "Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center - The University of Texas at Austin". www.wildflower.org. Retrieved 2023-09-06.
  7. Sand Sagebrush. Archived March 23, 2013, at the Wayback Machine Range Plants of Utah. Utah State University. Retrieved 12-26-2011.
  8. 1 2 3 Western Great Plains Sandhill Shrubland. Archived 2012-04-26 at the Wayback Machine Ecosystems. Colorado State. Retrieved 12-26-2011.
  9. Doxon, E. D., et al. (2011). Aboveground macroinvertebrate diversity and abundance in sand sagebrush prairie managed with the use of pyric herbivory. [ permanent dead link ]Rangeland Ecol Manage.64 394-403. Retrieved 12-26-2011.
  10. Winter, S. L., et al. (2011). Restoration of the fire–grazing interaction in Artemisia filifolia shrubland. Journal of Applied Ecology. Online preview. Retrieved 12-26-2011.
  11. 1 2 Vermeire, L. T., et al. Sand sagebrush response to fall and spring prescribed burning. In: McArthur, E. Durant, et al. comps. (2001). Shrubland ecosystem genetics and biodiversity: proceedings; 2000 June 13–15; Provo, UT. Proc. RMRS-P-21. Ogden, UT: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. Retrieved 12-26-2011.
  12. Rodgers, R. D. and M. L. Sexson. (1990). Impacts of extensive chemical control of sand sagebrush on breeding birds. Journal of Soil and Water Conservation.45(4) 494-97. Retrieved 12-26-2011.
  13. 1 2 Wilson, R. G. (1989). Sand sagebrush (Artemisia filifolia) and brittle pricklypear (Opuntia fragilis) control. Weed Technology3(2) 272-74. Retrieved 12-26-2011.
  14. Artemisia filifolia. Archived March 23, 2013, at the Wayback Machine University of Michigan Ethnobotany. Retrieved 12-26-2011.