Northwest mugwort, Douglas sagewort

Artemisia campestris Linnaeus var. douglasiana (Besser) B. Boivin; A. caudata Michaux var. douglasiana (Besser) B. Boivin; A. commutata Besser var. douglasiana (Besser) Besser; A. desertorum Sprengel var. douglasiana Besser; A. heterophylla Nuttall; A. ludoviciana Nuttall var. douglasiana (Besser) D. C. Eaton; A. vulgaris Linnaeus subsp. douglasiana (Besser) H. St. John

Perennials, 50–180(–250) cm, aromatic (rhizomatous). Stems 1–20, erect, brown to gray-green, simple, hairy or glabrescent. Leaves cauline, bicolor (white and green to light gray-green); blades narrowly elliptic to widely oblanceolate, (1–)3–11(–15) × 0.5–2(–6) cm (proximal with 3–5 lateral lobes, distal mostly entire), faces sparsely tomentose (abaxial) to sparsely hairy (adaxial). Heads (usually nodding) in (leafy) paniculiform arrays 10–30 × 3–9 cm (branches widely spreading, ascending, stout). Involucres narrowly turbinate to campanulate, 2–3 × 2–4 mm. Phyllaries (green to gray) ovate, tomentose to pubescent. Florets: pistillate 6–10; bisexual 6–25; corollas pale yellow, 1–1.5 mm, glabrous, sometimes glandular. Cypselae ellipsoid, 0.5–1 mm, glabrous. 2n = 54.

Flowering mid spring–late fall. Meadows, shaded sites, along drainages; 100–2200 m; Calif., Nev., Oreg., Wash.

Artemisia douglasiana is sometimes weedy. Reports from areas outside the northwestern portion of the United States are based on misidentifications of plants in the A. ludoviciana complex.