• GENERAL BOTANICAL CHARACTERISTICS
• RAUNKIAER LIFE FORM
• REGENERATION PROCESSES
• SITE CHARACTERISTICS
• SUCCESSIONAL STATUS
• SEASONAL DEVELOPMENT

GENERAL BOTANICAL CHARACTERISTICS:

Sagewort wormwood is a warm-season native forb from 0.8 to 40 inches (2-7 cm) tall [4,17,18]. It is usually a biennial or short-lived perennial [14], but is sometimes a facultative annual [36]. First-year leaves are basal, lobed in form, and crowded; they are usually persistent but may be deciduous [14,18]. Second-year leaves occur mostly on the upper stem and are linear, small, and few [15]. The inflorescence is a small panicle. The fruit is a small achene (< 1 mm) [17,44]. Sagewort wormwood has a taproot [14].

RAUNKIAER LIFE FORM:

Chamaephyte
Phanerophyte
Therophyte

REGENERATION PROCESSES:

Sagewort wormwood reproduces by seed. It generally grows as a rosette in the first year and produces a stem, flowers, and seed in the second or third year [25]. Little is known of sagewort wormwood germination and seedling establishment requirements. Seed is probably stored in litter or soil. Sagewort wormwood seed collected from various wetlands in southeastern Canada and stratified for 9 months began germinating after 3 days in a warm greenhouse. Germination rate after 30 days was 23 percent. At 30 days of age, root-to-shoot ratio and relative growth rate of sagewort wormwood seedlings were about average compared to other perennial herbs collected from the same wetlands [36,37].

SITE CHARACTERISTICS:

Sagewort wormwood occurs in valleys and on slopes and ridges on a variety of soil textures. It grows well in sand, and is common on sand dunes and sand prairies [23,46].

Elevation:  Sagewort wormwood has a wide elevational range [8,17,27]. It occurs from near sea level in California [27] to 10,560 feet (3,200 m) elevation on the Beartooth Plateau of Montana [8]. Elevational range by state is as follows:

AZ:  5,500 to 8,500 feet (1,650-2,550 m) [22]
CA:  sea level to 7,260 feet (0-2,200 m) [17,27]
CO:  4,500 to 9,000 feet (1,350-2,700 m) [16]
UT:  4,125 to 6,850 feet (1,250-2,075 m) [46]

SUCCESSIONAL STATUS:

Sagewort wormwood occurs in all stages of plant succession. On the Beartooth Plateau of Montana, it colonized early seral sites severely disturbed by gravel mining, and also occurred on an adjacent late-seral Ross' avens-silver lupine (Geum rossii-Lupinus argenteus) community [8]. It has been classified as early seral on sand dunes of Lake Michigan [28] and as mid-seral on sandhill prairies of the Great Plains [7].

Sagewort wormwood occurs on severely grazed sites and on sites long protected from grazing. In tallgrass prairie of Minnesota, it was about equally frequent on overgrazed sites and on undisturbed sites [11]. On plains grassland of South Dakota, it was most common on ungrazed sites with sandy soils but also occurred on grazed sites of various soil textures. Sagewort wormwood is a component of undisturbed remnant tallgrass prairies in Indiana and Illinois [2].

SEASONAL DEVELOPMENT:

Flowering and fruiting dates of sagewort wormwood are as follows:  

                 Flowers      Fruits     Entity
Arizona          July-Oct.    ----       Pacific wormwood [22]
Carolinas        Sept.-Oct.   ----       western wormwood [30]      
Great Plains     Aug.-Sept.   ----       western wormwood [15]
New England      July-Sept.   Oct.       field wormwood 
New England      July         Sept.      northern wormwood [34]

Related categories for SPECIES: Artemisia campestris | Sagewort Wormwood