Flora of North America species comparison

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Antennaria microphylla

Antennaria dioica

little-leaf pussytoes, pink pussytoes, rosy pussytoes, small pussytoes, white pussytoes

stoloniferous pussytoes
Habit Dioecious. Dioecious.
Plants

9–30 cm (stems stipitate-glandular distally).

3–10 cm.
Stolons

1–5 cm.

2–5 cm.
Basal leaves

1-nerved, spatulate, 6–16 × 2–6 mm, tips mucronate, faces silvery gray-pubescent.

1-nerved, spatulate or rhombic-spatulate, 3–18 × 3–6 mm, tips mucronate, abaxial faces gray-tomentose, adaxial green-glabrous.
Cauline leaves

linear, 5–25 mm, not flagged (apices acute).

linear, 7–13 mm, not flagged (apices acute).
Involucres

staminate 5–6.5 mm; pistillate 5.5–7 mm.

staminate 5–6.5 mm; pistillate 5–7 mm.
Corollas

staminate 2.5–3 mm; pistillate 3–4.3 mm.

staminate 3–4 mm; pistillate 4–5 mm.
Phyllaries

distally bright white to light yellow.

distally dark pink to light pink or white.
Heads

6–13 in corymbiform arrays.

3–7 in corymbiform arrays.
Cypselae

0.7–1.2 mm, glabrous or sparingly papillate;

pappi: staminate 3–4 mm; pistillate 3–5 mm.

0.5–1 mm, papillate;

pappi: staminate 3.5–4.5 mm; pistillate 5–6 mm.
2n

= 28.

= 28.

Antennaria microphylla

Antennaria dioica
Phenology Flowering early–mid summer. Flowering summer.
Habitat Moist open areas, flood plains of streams, margins of alkaline depressions, lower montane to subalpine (subarctic) Dry slopes on tundra
Elevation 0–3200 m (0–10500 ft) 0–600 m (0–2000 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AK; AZ; CA; CO; ID; MN; MT; ND; NE; NM; NV; OR; SD; UT; WA; WY; AB; BC; MB; NT; NU; ON; QC; SK; YT
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from USDA
Alaska (Aleutian Islands); Eurasia
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Antennaria microphylla is a primary sexual progenitor of the A. rosea polyploid agamic complex (R. J. Bayer 1990b). A. Cronquist (1955) included A. rosea within his circumscription of A. microphylla. It is preferable to recognize sexual diploids as distinct from their morphologically discrete hybrid apomictic derivatives. Antennaria microphylla is always dioecious and has stems distally stipitate-glandular and white phyllaries; A. rosea is always gynoecious and has stems without glandular hairs and phyllaries only occasionally white.

Some authors (A. E. Porsild 1950; E. H. Moss 1959; Porsild and W. J. Cody 1980) have recognized A. nitida as distinct; comparisons of the nomenclatural types of the two show that they are conspecific. Antennaria microphylla has allelopathic properties (G. D. Manners and D. S. Galitz 1985).

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

Antennaria dioica ranges from the British Isles to Japan and into the Aleutian Islands (R. J. Bayer 2000). It is characterized by glabrous adaxial leaf faces and distally pink or white phyllaries. The circumscription of A. dioica in North America has long been debated; A. marginata of southwestern states bears a remarkable similarity to A. dioica. DNA sequence data (Bayer et al. 1996) indicate that the two taxa are not sisters; they are only distantly related. They are allopatric. Antennaria dioica may be a sexual progenitor of the A. parvifolia complex.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 19, p. 407. FNA vol. 19, p. 406.
Parent taxa Asteraceae > tribe Gnaphalieae > Antennaria Asteraceae > tribe Gnaphalieae > Antennaria
Sibling taxa
A. alpina, A. anaphaloides, A. arcuata, A. argentea, A. aromatica, A. corymbosa, A. densifolia, A. dimorpha, A. dioica, A. flagellaris, A. friesiana, A. geyeri, A. howellii, A. lanata, A. luzuloides, A. marginata, A. media, A. monocephala, A. neglecta, A. parlinii, A. parvifolia, A. plantaginifolia, A. pulchella, A. pulcherrima, A. racemosa, A. rosea, A. rosulata, A. soliceps, A. solitaria, A. stenophylla, A. suffrutescens, A. umbrinella, A. virginica
A. alpina, A. anaphaloides, A. arcuata, A. argentea, A. aromatica, A. corymbosa, A. densifolia, A. dimorpha, A. flagellaris, A. friesiana, A. geyeri, A. howellii, A. lanata, A. luzuloides, A. marginata, A. media, A. microphylla, A. monocephala, A. neglecta, A. parlinii, A. parvifolia, A. plantaginifolia, A. pulchella, A. pulcherrima, A. racemosa, A. rosea, A. rosulata, A. soliceps, A. solitaria, A. stenophylla, A. suffrutescens, A. umbrinella, A. virginica
Synonyms A. bracteosa, A. microphylla var. solstitialis, A. nitida, A. rosea var. nitida, A. solstitialis Gnaphalium dioicum, A. hyperborea, A. insularis
Name authority Rydberg: Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 24: 303. (1897) (Linnaeus) Gaertner: Fruct. Sem. Pl. 2: 410. (1791)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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