Flora Report- Big Sagebrush

Big sagebrush can be found from California north to Canada, and east to Nebraska and south to Mexico. The scientific name of the Big sagebrush is Artemisia tridentata. Big Sagebrush blooms in late summer. A mature sagebrush plant may produce up to one million seeds. Sagebrush prefers drier plains, mesas or rocky areas with deep soils. Sagebrush can be found from 4,000 to 10,000 feet in elevation. Big sagebrush can often grow in habitats such as the cold desert shrub or pinyon-juniper woodlands. Sagebrush can also grow in vast tracts. Sagebrush ecosystems have the largest habitat range in the United States, nearly covering 470,000 square miles across eleven western states. Big Sagebrush grows two different kinds of leaves. A large leaf in the spring witch allows the plant to consume in more water and grow faster. The leaves are then dropped during the summer, and a smaller leaf grows in place of the bigger one. The smaller ones are the year-round set so it exposes less area so it evaporates less water and keeps in more water.

Sage brush is a permanent shrub that can grow from two to seven feet in height. A stout trunk, with many side branches that rise upwards. The young stems of the sagebrush are smooth and silvery, but as the plant becomes more mature, the stems become grayer and the bark starts to grow in longer strips. The evergreen leaves are one quarter inch to two inches long, with a wedge-shaped and with three or five lobes at the end. Nonlobed leaves can grow in the early winter. Flowering stems can grow near the ends of the branches and several side branches. Dense clusters of small yellow or cream-colored flowers are born along a main stalk with many side stems. Sagebrush seeds are tiny and black. The sagebrush has different kinds of roots. They put out a shallow set of roots to absorb rainfall faster. The second set, are deeper roots that take out water that seep into the soil as the winter snow melts. The other type of root is the taproot. This root extends downward six feet or more to drink in ground water.