About
Island sagebrush is a rare, small silvery shrub found only on three of the Channel Islands of California: San Nicolas, San Clemente and Santa Barbara.
Care at a glance
- Pet safety
- Not recorded. We have no source on whether this plant is safe for cats, dogs or other pets — that is not the same as safe. Keep it out of reach until you have checked.
- People
- Not recorded.
- Mature size
- Up to about 50 cm tall.
Field notes
Morphology
A rounded shrub up to about 50 cm tall, with several slender upright stems rising from a woody base. The woolly leaves are cut into many flat, thread-like segments. Flower heads sit in a narrow cluster, and the tiny resinous fruits carry a pappus of hairs.
Distribution & habitat
Endemic to the Channel Islands of California, where it grows on San Nicolas, San Clemente and Santa Barbara Islands.
History & etymology
Per Axel Rydberg first named it Crossostephium insulare in 1916, and Philip Munz reduced it in 1935 to a variety of Artemisia californica. Peter Raven later treated the island plants as their own species; because the name Artemisia insularis was already taken by a Kuril Islands plant, he coined A. nesiotica.
Habitat
- Altitude
- Not recorded
- Altitude class
- —
- Native to
- United States
Cultivation
- Difficulty
- Not recorded
Text adapted from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Crossed A. nesiotica with another species?Register the cross. If it's not documented yet you'll be the first contributor; if someone already registered it, you'll be taken there to add your photo.