Three-tipped sagebrush

Artemisia trifida Nuttall, Trans. Amer. Philos. Soc., n. s. 7: 398. 1841, not Turczaninow 1832; A. tridentata Nuttall subsp. trifida H. M. Hall & Clements; Seriphidium tripartitum (Rydberg) W. A. Weber

Shrubs, 5–15 or 20–150(–200) cm, aromatic; root-sprouting (caudices with adventitious buds, fibrous rooted). Stems pale gray, glabrous. Leaves deciduous, gray-green; blades broadly cuneate, 1.5–4 × 0.5–2 cm, deeply 3-lobed (lobes 1–1.4 mm wide, acute; cauline leaves smaller, mostly 3-lobed). Heads in paniculiform or spiciform arrays (5–)8–15(–35) × (0.5–)1–5 cm. Involucres globose or turbinate, 2–4 × 1.5–3 mm. Phyllaries broadly lanceolate (margins scarious, obscured by indument), canescent. Florets 3–11; corollas 2–2.5 mm, glandular (style branches included). Cypselae (columnar, unequally ribbed) 1.8–2.3 mm, glabrous or resinous.

Subspecies 2 (2 in the flora): w North America.