Western wormwood is an upright, aromatic herbaceous plant with numerous flower heads clustered close to the upper part of the main stem. The stems arise 30-200 cm high from the base. The herbage consists of dense, white-tomentose hairs. The leaves are numerous on the stems. They are lanceolate or lance-elliptic in shape with entier to deeply lobed margins. Any leaf lobes that are present may again be further lobed or toothed. The leaves range from 3-11 cm long and up to 1 cm wide (on blades with entire margins).

The flower heads are discoid, with 6-45 yellowish disk flowers, depending on the variety. The leaves are entire to deeply parted or divided. The plants are somewhat silver haired. Plants flower from July into October.

Gray Sagewort: Artemisia ludoviciana ssp. candicans (Synonym: Artemisia ludoviciana var. latifloba) -

Estes's Artemisia: Artemisia ludoviciana ssp. estesii -

Intermediate Sagewort, Prairie Sage, Western Mugwort: Artemisia ludoviciana ssp. incompta (Synonym: Artemisia ludoviciana var. incompta) -

Columbia River Sagewort, Columbia River Wormwood, Riverbank Wormwood: Artemisia ludoviciana ssp. lindleyana (Synonyms: Artemisia lindleyana, Artemisia prescottiana)

Louisiana sagewort, Silver Wormwood: Artemisia ludoviciana ssp. ludoviciana (Synonyms: Artemisia diversifolia, Artemisia gnaphaloides, Artemisia ludoviciana var. ludoviciana, Artemisia vulgaris var. ludoviciana) -

Dry open places.

Range:

Western wormwood is found mostly east of the Cascades and Sierra Nevada, but is otherwise common in the western United States.