38 



Wyoming Experiment Station, 



SAGE-BRUSH. 



(Artemisia). 



f\ 



LEAVES OF THE SAGE-BRUSHES 

 i. Common Sage-brush. 2. Matted Sage- 

 brush. 3. Low Sage-brush. 4. Mountain 

 Sage-brush. 5. Hoary Sage-brush. 



The genus Artemisia, to which 

 the sage-brushes belong, also in- 

 cludes the common wormwoods, 

 The sage-brushes, of which there 

 are five in this state, are low 

 grayish shrubs very common in 

 valleys and on prairies, especial- 

 ly on plains adjacent to the foot- 

 hills. They may be known by 

 their characteristic bitter-aromat- 

 ic odor and by their minute 

 greenish-yellow flowers, which 



are very numerous on the shoots of the season. 



Common Sage-brush (Artemisia tridentata Nutt.) 



Readily known by its wedge-shaped leaves, three-toothed at 



the apex. Though only one to three feet high on the plains 



it is much taller in the rich soil of draws and valleys, and in rare 



cases attains the size of a small tree. 



Matted Sage-brush (Artemisia nova Aven Nelson). 



Resembling the common sage-brush, but very low and mat- 

 ted, forming more or less extensive patches on exposed slopes. 

 The leaves are greenish in color and much smaller than those of 

 the preceding. 

 Low Sage-brush (Artemisia arbuscula Nutt.) 



A low shrub, less than a foot high, with wedge-shaped, three- 

 lobed leaves and less numerous flowers than the two preceding 

 sage-brushes. Infrequent in the state ; occurring in southern 

 and southwestern Wyoming. 



Mountain Sage-brush (Artemisia tripartite Rydb.) 



A low, more or less matted, grayish-white- shrub, usually less 

 than a foot high. It may be distinguished from other sage- 

 brushes by its leaves which are divided nearly half way into 



