Flora of North America species comparison

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Antennaria microphylla

Antennaria media

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

alpine pussytoes, dark pussytoes, Rocky Mountain pussytoes
Habit Dioecious. Dioecious or gynoecious (staminate plants rare or in equal frequency to pistillates, respectively).
Plants

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

5–13 cm.
Stolons

1–5 cm.

1–4 cm.
Basal leaves

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

1-nerved, spatulate to oblanceolate, 6–19 × 2.5–6 mm, tips mucronate, faces gray-pubescent.
Cauline leaves

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

linear, 5–20 mm, not flagged (apices acute).
Involucres

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

staminate (3.5–)4.5–6.5 mm; pistillate 4–8 mm.
Corollas

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

staminate 2.5–4.5 mm; pistillate 3–4.5 mm.
Phyllaries

distally bright white to light yellow.

distally dark brown, black, or olivaceous.
Heads

6–13 in corymbiform arrays.

2–5(–9) in corymbiform arrays.
Cypselae

0.7–1.2 mm, glabrous or sparingly papillate;

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

0.6–1.6 mm, glabrous or papillate;

pappi: staminate 2.5–4.5 mm; pistillate 4–5.5 mm.
2n

= 28.

= 56, 98, 112.

Antennaria microphylla

Antennaria media
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, rocky to moist alpine tundra
Elevation 0–3200 m (0–10500 ft) 1500–3800 m (4900–12500 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 FNA
AK; AZ; CA; CO; ID; MT; NM; NV; OR; UT; WA; WY; AB; BC; NT; YT
[WildflowerSearch map]
[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 media ranges from Arizona to Alaska; dioecious and gynoecious populations are encountered (R. J. Bayer and G. L. Stebbins 1987). The dioecious (sexual) populations are restricted primarily to California and Oregon (Bayer et al. 1990). The main distinction between A. media and A. alpina is flags on distal cauline leaves present in A. alpina and mostly absent in A. media (Bayer 1990d). Phyllaries of the pistillate plants in A. alpina tend to be acute; they are blunter in A. media. At some point, it may be preferable to follow W. L. Jepson ([1923–1925]) and some later authors and treat A. media as a subspecies of A. alpina. Antennaria media appears to be an autopolyploid derivative of A. pulchella; genes from A. pulchella may have introgressed into the A. alpina and A. parvifolia complexes indirectly through A. media.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 19, p. 407. FNA vol. 19, p. 411.
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. dioica, A. flagellaris, A. friesiana, A. geyeri, A. howellii, A. lanata, A. luzuloides, A. marginata, 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 A. alpina var. media, A. austromontana, A. candida, A. densa, A. modesta, A. mucronata
Name authority Rydberg: Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 24: 303. (1897) Greene: Pittonia 3: 286. (1898)
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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