{{Short description|American biome}} {{See|Great Basin shrub steppe}} '''Sagebrush scrub''' is a vegetation type (biome) of mid-to-high elevation Western United States deserts characterized by low-growing drought-resistant shrubs including the sagebrush (''Artemisia tridentata'') and its associates.<ref name=SNW>Karen Wiese, Sierra Nevada Wildflowers, 2013, p. 18-19</ref><ref name=MDW>Pam Mackay, Mojave Desert Wildflowers, p19</ref> It is the dominant vegetation type of the Great Basin Desert (Great Basin shrub steppe),<ref name=MDW/> occurs along the margins of the Mojave Desert, including in the southern slopes of the Sierra Nevada and the Transverse Ranges, in California,<ref name=MDW/> and occurs in the Colorado Plateau and in the Canyonlands, where it may be referred to as '''cool desert shrub'''.<ref name=CCW>Damian Fagan, Canyon Country Wildflowers, p3</ref>
It often occurs adjacent to piñon-juniper woodland communities, between 4,000 and 7,000 feet elevation, where annual precipitation is 8"-15", much of it snow.<ref name=ICPL/>
It sometimes occurs in pure stands of sagebrush or with associates that vary from region to region.<ref name=MDW/> Sagebrush scrub may occur as an understory of pinyon-juniper woodland.<ref name=MDW/>
==Mojave Desert== In the Mojave Desert, sagebrush associates include saltbrush (''Atriplex spp.''), rubber rabbitbrush (''Ericameria nauseosa''), green ephedra (''Ephedra vidris''), hop-sage (''Grayia spinosa''), and bitterbrush (''Purshia glandulosa'').<ref name=MDW/>
==Sierra Nevada== Sagebrush scrub occurs in relatively deep soils along the Sierra-Cascade axis, running from Modoc County to San Bernardino County.<ref name=ICPL>Introduction to California Plant Life, RObert Ornduff, Phyllis M. Faber, Todd Keeler-Wolf, revised ed., 2003, p. 213-214</ref>
In the Sierra Nevada range, in California, sagebrush associates include bitterbrush (''Purshia tridentata''), curl-leaf mountain-mahogany (''Cercocarpus ledifolius''), and rabbitbrushes (''Chrysothamnus spp.'', ''Ericameria spp.'').<ref name=SNW/> Average summer temperatures are in the 80's Fahrenheit, and 10-20 degrees F in the winter.<ref name=SNW/> It can survive on 7 inches of annual precipitation and so is generally below the piñon-juniper woodland vegetation type, which requires 12 to 20 inches.<ref name=SNW/> Its range is 4,200 to 7,000 feet in the eastern Sierra Nevada range, in California.<ref name=SNW/>
==References== {{reflist}}
Category:Deserts and xeric shrublands in the United States