Low Sagebrush

Low Sagebrush (Artemisia arbuscula), also known as Little Sagebrush, is a short statured mounded evergreen shrub reaching heights of 8 to 16 in with flowering stems rising 4 to 12 in above the canopy. The trunk is poorly defined with the branches diverging from the caudex below the soil surface.

It generally inhabits dry sterile rocky and alkaline clay soils in areas receiving 10 to 26 in annual precipitation with a pH of 5.5 to 8.6. Typically grows in sites drier than those occupied by big sagebrush taxa, and at higher elevation or in areas with more moisture than black sagebrush. It will occasionally form a mosaic of patches with big or black sagebrush indicating localized soil differences.

Low sagebrush and alkali sagebrush are found in the Intermountain and Rocky Mountain regions in Utah, Idaho Nevada, Oregon Washington, Wyoming, northern California, Colorado and western Montana. It occurs in a wide variety of habitats including valley bottoms, alkali basins, mountain slopes, and on dry wind-swept ridges. This species forms pure stands or can be found as a co-dominant species with basin and Wyoming big sagebrush, or with black sagebrush. At lower elevations it becomes a member of the salt desert scrub community with shadscale and greasewood. At higher elevations it is associated with pinyon-juniper and mountain shrub communities. Artemisia arbuscula prefers rocky soils on high valleys, mountain slopes, basins and ridges at elevations of 4,900 to 12,500 ft. It is collected from natural populations.