Big Sagebrush

Big sagebrush, Artemisia tridentata, is an aromatic shrub in the family Asteraceae. It grows in arid and semi-arid cold desert, steppe and mountain habitats of the Intermountain West of North America and dominates large parts of the Great Basin. It is a coarse, many-branched, pale-grey shrub with yellow flowers and silvery-grey foliage, strongly and pungently fragrant, especially when wet, because of camphor, terpenoids and other volatile oils. It can live for over 100 years. It is the state flower of Nevada. Native Americans throughout the Intermountain West use it as a herbal medicine, most notably as a smudging herb, and to prevent infection in wounds, stop internal bleeding and treat headaches and colds. The Navajo use its vapours for headache, the Zuni use a leaf infusion externally for body aches and as a cold medicine, and the Okanagan and Colville smoked hides with it. The Cahuilla ground its seed into flour.