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Artemisia californica

 
Artemisia Californica

 
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Artemisia californica
 
 
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Artemisia californica, also known as California sagebrush, of the Asteraceae
Asteraceae

The family Asteraceae or Compositae is the largest family of flowering plants, in terms of number of species.The name 'Asteraceae' is derived from the type genus Aster , while 'Compositae', an older but still valid name, means composite and refers to the characteristic inflorescence, a special type of pseudanthium found in o...
, is a shrub that grows in coastal sage scrub
Coastal sage scrub

Coastal sage scrub is a low scrubland plant community found in the California chaparral and woodlands terrestrial ecoregion of coastal California and northern Baja California....
, coastal strand
Coastal Strand

California's Coastal Strand plant community is the community of flowering plants that forms along the shore in loose sand just above the high tide line....
, chaparral
Chaparral

Chaparral is a shrubland or Heath plant community found primarily in the U.S. state of California and in the northern portion of Lower California, Mexico....
, and dry foothill communities, from sea level to 800 m (2600 ft.). It is native to California
California

California is a U.S. state on the West Coast of the United States of the United States, along the Pacific Ocean. It is bordered by Oregon to the north, Nevada to the east, Arizona to the southeast, and to the south the Mexico state of Baja California....
 and Baja California
Baja California

Baja California is the northernmost States of Mexico of Mexico. Before becoming a state in 1953, the area was known as the North Territory of Baja California....
.

plant branches from the base and grows out from there, becoming rounded; it grows 1.5 to 2.5 meters (5–8 ft.) tall. The stem
Plant stem

A stem is one of two main structural axes of a vascular plant. The stem is normally divided into nodes and internodes, the nodes hold buds which grow into one or more leaf, inflorescence , conifer cones or other stems etc....
s of the plant are slender, flexible, and glabrous (hairless) or canescent (fuzzy).






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Artemisia californica, also known as California sagebrush, of the Asteraceae
Asteraceae

The family Asteraceae or Compositae is the largest family of flowering plants, in terms of number of species.The name 'Asteraceae' is derived from the type genus Aster , while 'Compositae', an older but still valid name, means composite and refers to the characteristic inflorescence, a special type of pseudanthium found in o...
, is a shrub that grows in coastal sage scrub
Coastal sage scrub

Coastal sage scrub is a low scrubland plant community found in the California chaparral and woodlands terrestrial ecoregion of coastal California and northern Baja California....
, coastal strand
Coastal Strand

California's Coastal Strand plant community is the community of flowering plants that forms along the shore in loose sand just above the high tide line....
, chaparral
Chaparral

Chaparral is a shrubland or Heath plant community found primarily in the U.S. state of California and in the northern portion of Lower California, Mexico....
, and dry foothill communities, from sea level to 800 m (2600 ft.). It is native to California
California

California is a U.S. state on the West Coast of the United States of the United States, along the Pacific Ocean. It is bordered by Oregon to the north, Nevada to the east, Arizona to the southeast, and to the south the Mexico state of Baja California....
 and Baja California
Baja California

Baja California is the northernmost States of Mexico of Mexico. Before becoming a state in 1953, the area was known as the North Territory of Baja California....
.

Physical description

The plant branches from the base and grows out from there, becoming rounded; it grows 1.5 to 2.5 meters (5–8 ft.) tall. The stem
Plant stem

A stem is one of two main structural axes of a vascular plant. The stem is normally divided into nodes and internodes, the nodes hold buds which grow into one or more leaf, inflorescence , conifer cones or other stems etc....
s of the plant are slender, flexible, and glabrous (hairless) or canescent (fuzzy). The leaves
Leaf

In botany, a leaf is an above-ground plant Organ specialized for photosynthesis. For this purpose, a leaf is typically flat and thin, to expose the cells containing chloroplast to light over a broad area, and to allow light to penetrate fully into the tissues....
 range from one to 10 centimeters long and are pinnate
Pinnate

Pinnate is a term used to describe feather-like or multi-divided features arising from both sides of a common axis in plant or animal structures, and comes from the Latin word pinna for "feather"....
ly divided with 2–4 threadlike lobes less than five centimeters long. They leaves are hairy and light green to gray in color; the margins of the leaves curl under. The inflorescence
Inflorescence

An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a Plant stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches....
s are leafy, narrow, and sparse. The capitula
Head (botany)

The capitulum is considered the most derived form of inflorescence. Flower heads found outside Asteraceae shows lesser degrees of specialization....
 are less than 5 millimeters in diameter. The pistillate flowers range in number from 6 to 10 and the disk flowers range from 15 to 30, and they are generally yellowish in appearance, but sometimes red. The fruit
Fruit

The term fruit has different meanings dependent on context, and the term is not synonymous in food preparation and biology. In botany, which is the scientific study of plants, fruits are the ripened Ovary of flowering plants....
s produced are resinous achene
Achene

An achene is a type of simple dry fruit produced by many species of flowering plants. Achenes are "monocarpellate" and wikt:indehiscent . Achenes contain a single seed that nearly fills the pericarp, but does not adhere to it....
s up to 1.5 millimeters long. There is a pappus
Pappus

Pappus may refer to:*Pappus , a type of flower structure*Pappus of Alexandria, Greek mathematician...
 present that forms a minute crown on the body of the achene.

The plant contains terpene
Terpene

Terpenes are a large and varied class of hydrocarbons, produced primarily by a wide variety of plants, particularly conifers, though also by some insects such as termites or swallowtail butterflies, which emit terpenes from their osmeterium....
s which make it quite aromatic. Many people regard the species to have a pleasant smell.

Habitat and cultivation

The prototypical plant association of A. californica is chaparral
Chaparral

Chaparral is a shrubland or Heath plant community found primarily in the U.S. state of California and in the northern portion of Lower California, Mexico....
, notably in the California Coast Ranges; Toyon
Toyon

Toyon is a common Perennial plant shrub native to California, USA and the extreme northwest of Mexico, from northern California to northern Baja California....
 and sage are also key components of communities which are transitional between chaparral and coastal sage scrub types.

Artemisia californica needs full sun and likes to grow on west and north slopes. It needs little water and prefers no water in the summer months; it does not seem that soil types affect plant growth much. This plant relies on wildfire
Wildfire

A wildfire is any uncontrolled, non-structure fire that occurs in the wilderness, wildland, or The Bush. Synonyms such as wildland fire, forest fire, brush fire, vegetation fire, grass fire, Peat#Fires, bushfire , and hill fire are commonly used....
 for seed germination and burned plants can crown-sprout
Crown sprouting

Crown sprouting is the ability of a plant to regenerate its shoot after destruction by sprouting from the root crown, the junction between the root and shoot portions of a plant....
 and keep growing. It is often claimed to be allelopathic
Allelopathy

Allelopathy is the inhibition of growth of a plant due to biomolecules released by another. It is the opposite of symbiosis mutualism. The biomolecules are called allelochemicals and are produced by some plants as secondary metabolites....
: to secrete chemicals into the ground which inhibit other plants from growing near and around the shrub.

Animals rarely eat Artemisia californica, probably due to the presence of bitter aromatic terpenes, but it does provide good cover for smaller birds and other animals that can fit between its stems. It is an important habitat plant for the endangered California Gnatcatcher
California Gnatcatcher

The California Gnatcatcher , is a small 10.8 cm long insectivorous bird which frequents dense coastal sage scrub growth. This species was recently split from the similar Black-tailed Gnatcatcher of the Sonoran and Chihuahuan deserts....
.

Uses

Although Artemisia californica is a sagebrush, not a true sage
Salvia

Salvia is a genus of plants in the mint family, Lamiaceae. It is one of three genus commonly referred to as sage. When used without modifiers, sage generally refers to Salvia officinalis ; however, it can be used with modifiers to refer to any member of the genus....
, it can be used in cooking as a spice and can also be made into tea. It has also been used in the past for a treatment to fight coughs and colds. It was used by women of the Cahuilla
Cahuilla

The Cahuilla are a tribe of Native Americans in the United States that have inhabited the U.S. state of California for more than 2,000 years, originally covering an area of about 2,400 square miles ....
 to alleviate menstrual cramps
Dysmenorrhea

Dysmenorrhea is a medical condition characterized by severe uterine pain during menstruation. While most women experience minor pain during menstruation, dysmenorrhea is diagnosed when the pain is so severe as to limit normal activities, or require medication....
 and to ease labor
Childbirth

Childbirth is the culmination of a human pregnancy or gestation period with the delivery of one or more newborn infants from a woman's uterus. The process of normal human childbirth is categorized in three stages of labour: the shortening and dilation of the cervix, descent and delivery of the infant, and delivery of the placenta.....
.

This shrub is also used to rehabilitate disturbed sites of degraded coastal sage scrub.

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