''Artemisia nesiotica'' is a rare

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

species of

sagebrush Sagebrush is the common name of several woody and herbaceous species of plants in the genus ''Artemisia''. The best known sagebrush is the shrub ''Artemisia tridentata''. Sagebrushes are native to the North American west. Following is an alph ...

in the daisy family, known by the common name island sagebrush. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

to the

Channel Islands of California The Channel Islands () are an eight-island archipelago located within the Southern California Bight in the Pacific Ocean, off the coast of California. The four Northern Channel Islands are part of the Transverse Ranges geologic province, and ...

, found on 3 of the 8 islands ( San Nicolas,

San Clemente San Clemente (; Spanish for " St. Clement") is a city in Orange County, California. Located in the Orange Coast region of the South Coast of California, San Clemente's population was 64,293 in at the 2020 census. Situated roughly midway between ...

, and

Santa Barbara Island Santa Barbara Island (Spanish: ''Isla de Santa Bárbara''; Tongva: ''Tchunashngna'') is a small island of the Channel Islands archipelago in Southern California. It is protected within Channel Islands National Park, and its marine ecosystem ...

s).

Description

''Artemisia nesiotica'' is a small

shrub A shrub (often also called a bush) is a small-to-medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees ...

growing up to about 50 cm (20 inches) tall and generally rounded in shape. It produces several thin, upright stems from a woody base. The foliage is made up of woolly leaves divided into many thin, flat, threadlike segments. The

inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed o ...

is a narrow cluster of several flower heads. The fruit is a tiny resinous

achene An achene (; ), also sometimes called akene and occasionally achenium or achenocarp, is a type of simple dry fruit produced by many species of flowering plants. Achenes are monocarpellate (formed from one carpel) and indehiscent (they do not ope ...

with a pappus of hairs.

Etymology

The earliest name given to the plaint was ''Crossostephium insulare'', coined by

Per Axel Rydberg Per Axel Rydberg (July 6, 1860 – July 25, 1931) was a Swedish-born, American botanist who was the first curator of the New York Botanical Garden Herbarium. Biography Per Axel Rydberg was born in Odh, Västergötland, Sweden and emigrated t ...

in 1916. In 1935, Philip Alexander Munz declared this to be a variety of ''Artemisia californica.'' Peter Raven later wanted to recognize the Channel Island plants as a distinct species within ''Artemisia,'' but the name ''Artemisia insularis'' had already been used for a

Kuril Islands The Kuril Islands or Kurile Islands (; rus, Кури́льские острова́, r=Kuril'skiye ostrova, p=kʊˈrʲilʲskʲɪjə ɐstrɐˈva; Japanese: or ) are a volcanic archipelago currently administered as part of Sakhalin Oblast in the ...

plant in 1936. Hence Raven's new name, ''Artemisia nesiotica.''Raven, Peter Hamilton 1963. Aliso 5(3): 341

References

External links

Calflora Database: ''Artemisia nesiotica'' (Island sagebrush)Jepson Manual eFlora (TJM2) treatment of ''Artemisia nesiotica''
* {{Taxonbar, from=Q4797497 nesiotica Endemic flora of California Natural history of the Channel Islands of California Natural history of the California chaparral and woodlands Plants described in 1916