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The Story Behind Sagebrush, An Icon Of The West | Montana Public Radio

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Break off a sprig of big sagebrush and inhale its aroma: the fragrance is clean, sharp and as cool as the smell of winter. Call it camphor blended with a touch of Christmas. Crush a few leaves between your fingertips and the scent is suddenly somewhat bitter and more pungent. Let the sprig dry for a few hours and you’ll find that the fragrance gradually loses its bite, softening to crisp evergreen with a hint of juicy berry. Big sagebrush flourishes throughout North America’s Great Basin and sagebrush steppe. One of more than a dozen species of Artemesia, big, or tall, sagebrush is the most common, ranging from as far south as New Mexico all the way up into the Dakotas, Montana, and British Columbia. This woody-stemmed evergreen shrub is able to thrive in such widely diverse environments because it has double systems of roots, branches, and leaves. First, let’s talk about the roots. One network of small roots laces out beneath shallow layers of soil, enabling the plant to soak up sudde

Arts & Life The Story Behind Sagebrush, An Icon Of The West Montana Public Radio | By Terry Ryan Published May 1, 2017 at 12:13 AM MDT Facebook Flipboard LinkedIn Email Listen • 4:14 1 of 2 Big sagebrush leaves (Artemesia tridentata) Stan Shebs (CC-BY-SA-3) 2 of 2 Big sagebrush (Artemesia tridentata) Matt Lavin (CC-BY-SA-2) Break off a sprig of big sagebrush and inhale its aroma: the fragrance is clean, sharp and as cool as the smell of winter. Call it camphor blended with a touch of Christmas. Crush a few leaves between your fingertips and the scent is suddenly somewhat bitter and more p

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