Old growth Sagebrush

Description:

Big Sagebrush is a coarse, many-branched, pale-grey shrub with yellow flowers and silvery-grey foliage, which is generally 0.5–3 m tall.[9] A deep taproot 1–4 m in length, coupled with laterally spreading roots near the surface, allows sagebrush to gather water from both surface precipitation and the water table several meters beneath. Big sagebrush that is over a meter tall is an indicator of arable land, because it prefers deep, basic soils.[10] Sagebrush is generally long-lived once it makes it past the seedling stage, and can reach ages of over 100 years.

Habitat:

Artemisia tridentata grows in arid and semi-arid conditions, throughout the Intermountain West of North America.[19] Sagebrush is not a desert plant, but rather a resident of the steppe, in areas that receive 18–40 centimeters (7.1–15.7 in) of annual precipitation.[20] Big sagebrush and other Artemisia species are the dominant plants across large portions of the Great Basin, covering some 422,000 square miles (1,090,000 km2) in 11 western U.S. states and Canadian provinces.[21] Sagebrush provides food and habitat for a variety of animal species, such as sage grouse, pronghorn, gray vireo, pygmy rabbit, and mule deer.[22][23] Sagebrush also creates habitat for many species of grasses and herbs. Besides providing shade and shelter from the wind, the long taproot of sagebrush draws water up from deep in the soil, some of which becomes available to these surrounding shallow-rooted plants.

Notes:

Big sagebrush is used as a herbal medicine by Native Americans throughout the Intermountain West of North America, most notably as a smudging herb. It is also used for preventing infection in wounds, stopping internal bleeding, and treating headaches and colds. Chemically, the active medicinal constituents include camphor, terpenoids, and tannins. The Navajo use the vapors of sagebrush as a treatment for headache.[37][38] The Okanagan and Colville people used sagebrush to smoke hides.[39] Among the Zuni people, an infusion of the leaves is used externally for body aches. The infusion is also taken as a cold medicine. It is also placed in shoes to treat athlete's foot, fissures between toes, and as a foot deodorant.