Artemisia cana subsp. bolanderi

Silver sagebrush, Silver Sagebrush

Family: Asteraceae · Type: shrub · Native

Silver sagebrush is a California native shrub found in the Sierra Nevada, Great Basin, and southern Sierra Nevada Foothills in gravelly soils, meadows, and streambanks at elevations of 1,200 to 3,300 meters. Flowering from September to October, this plant produces small white to cream-colored flower heads in tight clusters approximately 5 millimeters in diameter. Growing up to 90 centimeters tall with a woody trunk, it features distinctively white-felty stems that give the plant a soft, silvery appearance. Its leaves are linear to narrowly lanceolate, winter-deciduous, measuring 3 to 4 centimeters long and generally entire in shape. The shrub produces numerous disk flowers and is characterized by densely hairy phyllaries that create a delicate, textured appearance.

Habitat: Gravelly soils, meadows, streambanks

Bloom period: Sep-Oct

Elevation: 1200-3300 m

Bioregions: CaRH, s SNF, SNH, GB

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.