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Artemisia ludoviciana Nutt.

Common Name: WESTERN MUGWORT, WHITE SAGE
Coefficient of Conservatism: 8
Coefficient of Wetness: 5
Wetness Index: UPL
Physiognomy: Nt P-Forb
Status: T

Roadsides, railroads, fields, sandy open ground, disturbed places. Usually considered native on prairies and dry soils from Wisconsin and Illinois westward. Collected in 1839 in Menominee Co. during the First Survey by Doughlass Houghton and George H. Bull, without habitat, but presumably from an oak savanna or prairie opening.  A collection by Don Henson in 1989 (MICH, UMBS) from a prairie opening along the Menominee River in Menominee Co. may be taken as confirming its continued presence as a native plant in that area. Otherwise, our occurrences are surely adventive from the west or escaped from cultivation, probably even a 1933 collection "On rail road embankment" in the city of Menominee. More than most, this species exemplifies the difficulty, especially with prairie plants, in assessing the nativity of populations, even as protecting native germplam is increasingly important . 

This is an even more variable species farther west, but our specimens also differ considerably in lobing (if any) of leaves, though our plants are apparently all subsp. ludoviciana [var. pabularis (A. Nelson) Fernald].

D. Dister

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Counties
Allegan
Alpena
Benzie
Berrien
Chippewa
Delta
Gogebic
Grand Traverse
Gratiot
Houghton
Kalamazoo
Kent
Keweenaw
Lake
Lenawee
Livingston
Mecosta
Menominee
Muskegon
Oakland
Ottawa
Schoolcraft
St. Clair
Washtenaw
Wayne

Citation:
MICHIGAN FLORA ONLINE. A. A. Reznicek, E. G. Voss, & B. S. Walters. February 2011. University of Michigan. Web. March, 17, 2025
https://lsa-miflora-p.lsait.lsa.umich.edu/#/record/238