Wildflower (forb) · Asteraceae
White sagebrush
Artemisia ludoviciana · includes its varieties and subspecies
White sagebrush is recorded as native to 34 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 812 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Key facts · USDA PLANTS
White sagebrush at a glance
- Native in
- 812 counties, across 34 states and territories
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 4a PLANTS minimum temperature −33°F
- Mature height
- 3 ft PLANTS mature height
- Light and water
- Full sun (shade-intolerant) Low water use
Estimated cold hardiness: zone 4a. PLANTS gives a minimum temperature of −33°F; zone 4a winters bottom out at −30°F, the coldest half-zone that stays within that limit.
White sagebrush is recorded as native to 34 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 812 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS. In 251 more counties PLANTS labels it both native and introduced (statewide in Arkansas, Connecticut, Mississippi, New Jersey, Ohio and Tennessee), so there it appears only in the separate “native and introduced” section.
Counties where it is native
The 15 counties with the most ZIP codes among the 812 where it is listed.
Native counties by state
- Arizona 8 counties
- California 12 counties
- Colorado 46 counties
- Idaho 24 counties
- Illinois 50 counties
- Indiana 7 counties
- Iowa 28 counties
- Kansas 92 counties
- Kentucky 2 counties
- Louisiana 14 counties
- Maine 3 counties
- Massachusetts 7 counties
- Michigan 19 counties
- Minnesota 68 counties
- Missouri 42 counties
- Montana 7 counties
- Nebraska 49 counties
- Nevada 15 counties
- New Hampshire 1 county
- New Mexico 25 counties
- New York 10 counties
- North Carolina 5 counties
- North Dakota 48 counties
- Oklahoma 38 counties
- Oregon 14 counties
- Rhode Island 1 county
- South Carolina 1 county
- South Dakota 37 counties
- Texas 17 counties
- Utah 27 counties
- Virginia 13 counties
- Washington 18 counties
- Wisconsin 45 counties
- Wyoming 19 counties
Growing traits
Values from the PLANTS characteristics record. “Not recorded” means PLANTS has no value; nothing here is estimated except the zone.
Growth
- Growth habit
- Forb/herb, Subshrub
- Duration
- Perennial
- Mature height
- 3 ft
- Growth rate
- Moderate
- Growth form
- Rhizomatous
- Shape
- Erect
- Lifespan
- Short
- Active growth period
- Spring and Summer
Light and water
- Shade tolerance
- Intolerant (full sun (shade-intolerant))
- Moisture use
- Low water use
- Drought tolerance
- High
- Tolerance of waterlogged soil
- None
- Precipitation range
- 10 to 60 in per year
Soil
- Soil textures
- Coarse and medium
- pH range
- 6 to 9
- Lime (CaCO₃) tolerance
- High
- Salinity tolerance
- High
- Fertility requirement
- Low
- Minimum root depth
- 8 in
Climate
- Minimum temperature
- −33°F
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 4a and warmer
- Minimum frost-free days
- 70
- Fire tolerance
- Medium
Flowers, leaves and fruit
- Flower color
- White
- Showy flowers
- No
- Bloom period
- Early Spring
- Foliage color
- White-Gray
- Showy in fall
- No
- Keeps leaves
- No
- Fruit color
- White
Other
- Toxicity
- None
- Nitrogen fixation
- None
- Nursery availability
- Routinely Available
- Family
- Asteraceae
- PLANTS symbol
- ARLU
Source & data date
- Source
- USDA NRCS PLANTS Database: county distribution records, native status and plant characteristics. CC0 (public domain dedication, per the data.gov catalog record).
- Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP): native or introduced status by state. CC BY 3.0.
- USGS US-RIIS (ver. 2.0): species listed as introduced are excluded. CC0.
- Citation
- USDA, NRCS. 2026. The PLANTS Database (https://plants.usda.gov, 11/04/2026). National Plant Data Team, Greensboro, NC USA.
- Govaerts R. (ed.) (2026). WCVP: World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Data file dated 2026-06-04, http://sftp.kew.org/pub/data-repositories/WCVP/ (retrieved 2026-11-04). Paper: Govaerts R. et al. (2021) The World Checklist of Vascular Plants, a continuously updated resource for exploring global plant diversity. Scientific Data 8, 215.
- Data date
- Retrieved from PLANTS on November 4, 2026; WCVP data file dated June 4, 2026.
- Scope
- Artemisia ludoviciana (PLANTS symbol ARLU), including 2 varieties and subspecies folded into the species.
- Method
- A species is listed when it is recorded as native to the state in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in the county by USDA PLANTS. Species PLANTS labels both native and introduced are listed separately. Full method · All sources