About Artemisia suksdorfii Piper
Artemisia suksdorfii Piper is a North American species of sagebrush belonging to the sunflower family. It has three common names: coastal mugwort, coastal wormwood, and Suksdorf sagewort. This species is native to coastal regions ranging from British Columbia, Washington, and Oregon through northern California, extending south to Sonoma County. Isolated populations of the plant also grow on Santa Catalina Island in Los Angeles County. Artemisia suksdorfii occurs in coastal drainages and other types of habitat located near the ocean. It is a rhizomatous perennial herb that produces many erect stems, which grow between 0.5 and 2 meters in height. These stems are unbranched, brownish in color, and have woody bases. The leaves are narrow and lobed, with green hairless surfaces on top and white woolly surfaces underneath. The plant's inflorescence is generally spike-shaped, reaching up to 30 centimeters in length and a few centimeters in width. It holds many clusters of small flower heads that have shiny yellow-green phyllaries, as well as yellow disc florets and yellow pistillate florets. The fruit produced by the plant is a tiny achene that is less than one millimeter long. This species is named after German-American botanist Wilhelm Nikolaus Suksdorf, who lived from 1850 to 1932.
