Big Sage Brush

Artemisia tridentata

Characteristics

• Silvery green shrub can be small to up to 15 ft

• Persistent, alternate leaves are sessile and three-lobed

• Small yellow flowers borne on long spikes• Shreddy bark• Fragrant leaves distinguish from

Rabbitbrush and Bitterbrush

Ecology

• Common throughout our basin and Eastern Oregon

• The most abundant shrub in the semi-arid portion of the Western United States

• Most common and widely distributed sagebrush, found all the way to Nebraska

• Important browse of game animals and sheep• Islands to deer mice, kangaroo mice and other

desert mammals and reptiles

Ecology continued

• The Range Plant Handbook states that tall, dense stands of the plant are indicative of fertile soil suitable for small grains and adapted for irrigated farming

• State flower of Nevada