Sagebrush scrub is a vegetation type (

biome A biome () is a distinct geographical region with specific climate, vegetation, and animal life. It consists of a biological community that has formed in response to its physical environment and regional climate. In 1935, Tansley added the ...

) of mid-to-high elevation

Western United States The Western United States (also called the American West, the Western States, the Far West, the Western territories, and the West) is List of regions of the United States, census regions United States Census Bureau. As American settlement i ...

deserts characterized by low-growing drought-resistant shrubs including the sagebrush ('' Artemisia tridentata'') and its associates.Karen Wiese, Sierra Nevada Wildflowers, 2013, p. 18-19Pam Mackay, Mojave Desert Wildflowers, p19 It is the dominant vegetation type of the

Great Basin Desert The Great Basin Desert is part of the Great Basin between the Sierra Nevada and the Wasatch Range in the western United States. The desert is a geographical region that largely overlaps the Great Basin shrub steppe defined by the World Wildlife ...

( Great Basin shrub steppe), occurs along the margins of the

Mojave Desert The Mojave Desert (; ; ) is a desert in the rain shadow of the southern Sierra Nevada mountains and Transverse Ranges in the Southwestern United States. Named for the Indigenous peoples of the Americas, indigenous Mohave people, it is located pr ...

, including in the southern slopes of the

Sierra Nevada The Sierra Nevada ( ) is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primari ...

and the Transverse Ranges, in

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, and occurs in the Colorado Plateau and in the Canyonlands, where it may be referred to as cool desert shrub.Damian Fagan, Canyon Country Wildflowers, p3 It often occurs adjacent to piñon-juniper woodland communities, between 4,000 and 7,000 feet elevation, where annual precipitation is 8"-15", much of it snow. It sometimes occurs in pure stands of sagebrush or with associates that vary from region to region. Sagebrush scrub may occur as an understory of pinyon-juniper woodland.

Mojave Desert

In the

, sagebrush associates include saltbrush ('' Atriplex spp.''), rubber rabbitbrush (''

Ericameria nauseosa ''Ericameria nauseosa'' (formerly ''Chrysothamnus nauseosus''), commonly known as chamisa, rubber rabbitbrush, and gray rabbitbrush, is a shrub in the Asteraceae, sunflower family (Aster) found in the arid regions of western North America. Two ...

''), green ephedra ('' Ephedra vidris''), hop-sage ('' Grayia spinosa''), and bitterbrush ('' Purshia glandulosa'').

Sierra Nevada

Sagebrush scrub occurs in relatively deep soils along the Sierra-Cascade axis, running from Modoc County to San Bernardino County.Introduction to California Plant Life, RObert Ornduff, Phyllis M. Faber, Todd Keeler-Wolf, revised ed., 2003, p. 213-214 In the

range, in

, sagebrush associates include bitterbrush ('' Purshia tridentata''), curl-leaf mountain-mahogany ('' Cercocarpus ledifolius''), and rabbitbrushes ('' Chrysothamnus spp.'', ''

Ericameria ''Ericameria'' is a genus of North American shrubs in the family Asteraceae. ''Ericameria'' is known by the common names goldenbush, rabbitbrush, turpentine bush, and rabbitbush. Most are shrubs, but one species ''(Ericameria parishii, E. paris ...

spp.''). Average summer temperatures are in the 80's Fahrenheit, and 10-20 degrees F in the winter. It can survive on 7 inches of annual precipitation and so is generally below the piñon-juniper woodland vegetation type, which requires 12 to 20 inches. Its range is 4,200 to 7,000 feet in the eastern Sierra Nevada range, in California.

References

{{reflist Deserts and xeric shrublands in the United States