Carruth wormwood

Artemisia bakeri Greene; A. coloradensis Osterhout; A. kansana Britton; A. vulgaris Linnaeus subsp. wrightii (A. Gray) H. M. Hall & Clements; A. wrightii A. Gray

Perennials, 15–40(–70) cm, faintly aromatic (rhizomatous). Stems mostly 3–8, ascending, brown to gray-green, simple (bases curved, somewhat woody), sparsely to densely tomentose. Leaves cauline, bicolor (± gray-green); blades narrowly elliptic, 0.1–2.5(–3) × 0.5–1 cm (gradually smaller distally), relatively deeply pinnatifid (lobes 3–5), faces densely tomentose (abaxial) to sparsely hairy (adaxial). Heads (usually nodding) in (leafy) paniculiform arrays 10–30 × 3–9 cm (branches erect). Involucres campanulate, 2–2.5(–3) × 1.5–3 mm. Phyllaries lanceolate, gray-tomentose. Florets: pistillate 1–5; bisexual 7–25; corollas pale yellow, 1–2 mm, glandular-pubescent. Cypselae (light brown) cylindro-elliptic, ca. 0.5 mm, (curved at summits, scarcely nerved), glabrous (shining). 2n = 18.

Flowering mid summer–early fall. Open sites, usually sandy soils, wooded areas, grasslands, railroads; 600–2900 m; Ariz., Colo., Kans., Mich., Mo., N.Mex., Okla., Tex., Utah; Mexico (Chihuahua, Sonora).

Artemisia carruthii is closely related to members of the A. ludoviciana complex, with which it may intergrade.