Prairie Sage, White Sage; Western Mugwort, Artemisia ludoviciana Nutt, Native Minnesota Wildflower plant, Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden

	Plants of the Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden
	Common Name	Scientific Name	Plant Family	Garden Location	Prime Season
	White Sagebrush	Artemisia ludoviciana Nutt.	Aster (Composite)	Upland	Late Summer to Autumn
Other names and notes	(Prairie Sage; Western Mugwort). The flower heads are in small clusters springing out along the stem. Flowers are small, greenish or grayish. The leaves are narrow lance shape with a few coarse teeth toward the tip and along with the stem are covered with white hairs, hence the common name of White Sagebrush. It is a plant of the open dryer areas, growing well when in full sun and spreading by underground stems. Plants grow one to three feet high. Winter interest: They can provide good winter interest to the garden as they survive the winter quite well as the one at the far right below shows, with the mature seed heads providing a contrasting color.


The plant in late August	Seed heads of late August	The plant as it appears the following spring.

Plants seen at the end of August	Below: Seed heads of mid to late September

Notes: Eloise Butler first introduced this plant into the Garden on Oct. 16, 1909 with plants she obtained in Glenwood Park (which surrounds the Garden), and thus, it is indigenous to the Garden area. This plant was listed on Martha Crone's 1951 inventory of plants in the Garden at that time. The plant is native to Minnesota and well distributed except for a few scattered counties. The plants in the Garden appear to be the subspecies A. ludoviciana Nutt. ssp. ludoviciana.

Return to -- Site Plan/Archive --or-- List of Common Plant Names -- or -- List of Scientific Names -- or --Home Page

References: Plant characteristics are generally from sources 15, 16, 30, 31, 33, W2 & W3. Distribution principally from W2 and also 31, 34 and W1. Planting history generally from 1, 4 & 4a. Other sources by specific reference. See Reference List for details.

030810