Flora of North America species comparison

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Antennaria microphylla

Antennaria racemosa

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

Hooker's pussy-toes, raceme pussytoes, racemose pussytoes, slender pussy-toes
Habit Dioecious. Dioecious.
Plants

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

12–50 cm (stems stipitate-glandular distally).
Stolons

1–5 cm.

3–8 cm.
Basal leaves

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

3-nerved, elliptic to oblong, 30–100 × 10–40 mm, tips mucronate, abaxially tomentose, adaxially glabrous.
Cauline leaves

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

linear, 10–30 mm, not flagged (apices obtuse to acute).
Involucres

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

staminate 4–8 mm; pistillate 7–9 mm.
Corollas

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

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

distally bright white to light yellow.

(relatively wide) distally white or light brown (apices blunt).
Heads

6–13 in corymbiform arrays.

3–12 in loose, racemiform to paniculiform arrays.
Cypselae

0.7–1.2 mm, glabrous or sparingly papillate;

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

1–1.5 mm, glabrous or slightly papillate;

pappi: staminate 3–4.5 mm; pistillate 4.5–7 mm.
2n

= 28.

= 28.

Antennaria microphylla

Antennaria racemosa
Phenology Flowering early–mid summer. Flowering summer.
Habitat Moist open areas, flood plains of streams, margins of alkaline depressions, lower montane to subalpine (subarctic) Moist, cool, montane and subalpine coniferous forests and roadcuts in forests
Elevation 0–3200 m (0–10500 ft) 1200–3000 m (3900–9800 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
CA; ID; MT; OR; WA; WY; AB; BC
[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 racemosa is characterized by adaxially glabrous basal leaves and open, racemiform to paniculiform arrays of heads (R. J. Bayer 1985b). The young leaves have a slight odor of citronella when crushed. Antennaria racemosa has a pivotal sexual genome of the Catipes group and has contributed to the origin of clones in the A. howellii, A. parlinii, and A. rosea polyploid agamic complexes (Bayer 1985, 1985b, 1990b).

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 19, p. 407. FNA vol. 19, p. 401.
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. media, A. microphylla, A. monocephala, A. neglecta, A. parlinii, A. parvifolia, A. plantaginifolia, A. pulchella, A. pulcherrima, 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. petasites, A. piperi
Name authority Rydberg: Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 24: 303. (1897) Hooker: Fl. Bor.-Amer. 1: 330. (1834)
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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