[3][4][5] Artemisia filifolia is a branching woody shrub growing up to 1.5 metres (4 ft 11 in) tall.

The stems are covered narrow, threadlike leaves up to 8 centimetres (3.1 in) long and no more than half a millimeter wide.

[6] Artemisia filifolia is a dominant species across much of the west-central United States, particularly in areas where the substrate is a deep, sandy soil.

[8] Some regions dominated by this sagebrush include the occurrences of the sandsage prairie from Nebraska to central Texas, various river systems in eastern Colorado and Kansas,[8] the sandhills and mixed-grass prairies of Colorado, and parts of southeastern Wyoming.

When humans began to use this terrain as rangeland, this system was altered, causing a homogenization of life forms in the habitat.

[9] A balanced regime of fire and grazing is required to sustain the biodiversity of this type of rangeland.

Prairie dogs build towns in sandy sage grassland, and when they abandon them, burrowing owls move in.

[11] Extensive removal of sand sagebrush has been shown to reduce the diversity and abundance of breeding birds in the habitat.