Sand sagebrush

As I drove west on Interstate 40 toward Albuquerque, I began to notice occurrences of a grayish-green plant that seemed to grow in a distinctively scraggly way. At Petroglyph National Monument on September 23rd I learned that the plant is sand sagebrush, Artemisia filifolia. At your respiratory peril I’ll tell you that plants in the genus Artemisia are wind-pollinated, just like their cousins in the genus Ambrosia, i.e. ragweeds.

To see the places in the (mostly) west-central United States where sand sagebrush grows, you can check out the USDA map.

© 2014 Steven Schwartzman