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anaphale marguerite, immortelle blanche, pearly everlasting, western pearly everlasting

everlasting, pearly-everlasting

Habit Perennials; rhizomes relatively slender. Perennials [subshrubs] (dioecious or subdioecious), 20–80(–120+) cm; fibrous-rooted (rhizomatous, not stoloniferous).
Stems

white, densely and closely tomentose, not glandular.

usually 1, usually erect.

Leaves

blades 1–3-nerved, 3–10(–15) cm, bases subclasping, decurrent, margins revolute, abaxial faces tomentose or glabrescent (proximal leaves), not glandular or very sparsely and inconspicuously glandular, adaxial faces green, glabrate.

basal and cauline; alternate; petiolate or sessile;

blades oblanceolate or lanceolate to linear, bases ± cuneate, margins entire, faces usually bicolor [concolor], abaxial usually white to gray and tomentose (sometimes glandular as well, proximal leaves sometimes ± glabrate), adaxial usually greenish and glabrate or glabrous, sometimes grayish and sparsely arachnose.

Involucres

5–7 × 6–8(–10) mm.

subglobose, 6–8(–10) mm.

Peripheral (pistillate) florets

50–150 (more numerous than staminate; sometimes a few pistillate florets peripheral in predominantly staminate heads or 1–9 staminate florets central in predominantly pistillate heads);

corollas yellowish.

Inner (functionally staminate) florets

30–55;

corollas yellowish.

Phyllaries

ovate to nearly linear (innermost), subequal to unequal, apices white, opaque.

in 8–12 series, bright white (opaque, at least toward tips, often proximally woolly; stereomes not glandular), unequal, ± papery (at least toward tips).

Heads

usually discoid (unisexual or nearly so) or disciform, in glomerules in corymbiform or paniculiform arrays.

Cypselae

0.5–1 mm, bases constricted into stipiform carpopodia.

oblong [obclavate, ovoid, or cylindric] (2-nerved), faces ± scabrous (hairs clavate, not myxogenic);

pappi usually readily falling, of 10–20 distinct or basally connate, barbellate bristles (tips of bristles ± clavate in bisexual or functionally staminate florets).

x

= 14.

2n

= 28.

Anaphalis margaritacea

Anaphalis

Phenology Flowering Jul–Oct (sporadically longer).
Habitat Dry woods, often with aspen or mixed conifer-hardwood, borders and trails, dunes, fields, roadsides, other open, often disturbed sites
Elevation 0–3200 m (0–10500 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AK; AR; AZ; CA; CO; CT; DE; IA; ID; IL; IN; KY; MA; MD; ME; MI; MN; MT; NC; NE; NH; NJ; NM; NV; NY; OH; OR; PA; RI; SD; TN; TX; UT; VA; VT; WA; WI; WV; WY; AB; MB; NB; NL; NS; NT; ON; PE; QC; SK; YT; SPM; BC ; Mexico (Baja California); Asia [Introduced in Europe]
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from USDA
North America; mostly central Asia and India
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Anaphalis margaretacea was widely planted as an ornamental and escaped. It apparently naturalized from its native range in both Asia and North America; it is cultivated and naturalized in Europe.

Anaphalis margaritacea has the aspect of Pseudognaphalium; it differs in being subdioecious (polygamo-dioecious; the heads either staminate or primarily pistillate) and in its distinctive cypselar vestiture. It is further recognized by its combination of rhizomatous habit, subclasping-decurrent, bicolor, revolute leaves, and distally white phyllaries. Segregate species and varieties have been described among the North American plants (in addition to the two cited above), based on variation in habit, vestiture, and leaf morphology and density, but the variants appear to be more like a complex series of ecotypes rather than broader evolutionary entities.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Species ca. 110 or fewer (1 in the flora).

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Source FNA vol. 19, p. 427. FNA vol. 19, p. 426. Author: Guy L. Nesom.
Parent taxa Asteraceae > tribe Gnaphalieae > Anaphalis Asteraceae > tribe Gnaphalieae
Subordinate taxa
A. margaritacea
Synonyms Gnaphalium margaritaceum, A. margaritacea var. occidentalis, A. margaritacea var. subalpina
Name authority (Linnaeus) Bentham & Hooker f.: Gen. Pl. 2: 303. (1873) de Candolle: in A. P. de Candolle and A. L. P. P. de Candolle, Prodr. 6: 271. (1838)
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