Artemisia michauxiana
Lemon sagewort
Family: Asteraceae · Type: perennial · Native
Lemon sagewort is a California native perennial found in the White and Inyo Mountains on subalpine to alpine scree, talus, and drainages at elevations of 3,000 to 3,500 meters. Flowering from May to August, this plant produces pale, nodding flower heads less than 5.5 millimeters in diameter, often with purple-tinged phyllaries dotted with yellow glands. Growing with multiple unbranched green stems 30 to 100 centimeters tall from a rhizome, it has a distinctive lemon-like fragrance when crushed. Its leaves are 1.5 to 11 centimeters long, ovate to obovate, divided into 1 to 2 pinnate segments, with green upper surfaces and white-woolly undersides. The plant contains yellow glands that contribute to its aromatic lemon-scented character and produce numerous pistillate and disk flowers.
Habitat: Subalpine to alpine scree, talus, drainages
Bloom period: May-Aug
Elevation: 3000-3500 m
Bioregions: W&I
Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.