Flora of North America species comparison

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Antennaria parvifolia

Antennaria dioica

little-leaf pussytoes, Nuttall's pussytoes, small-leaf pussytoes

stoloniferous pussytoes
Habit Dioecious or gynoecious (staminate plants uncommon or in equal frequency as pistillates, respectively). Dioecious.
Plants

2–8(–15) cm.

3–10 cm.
Stolons

1–6 cm.

2–5 cm.
Basal leaves

1-nerved, narrowly spatulate to spatulate or oblanceolate, 8–35 × 2–15 mm, tips mucronate, faces gray-tomentose.

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

linear to narrowly oblanceolate, 8–20 mm, not flagged (apices acute).

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

staminate 5.5–7.5 mm;

pistillate 8–10(–15) mm (gynoecious), 7–7.2 mm (dioecious).

staminate 5–6.5 mm;

pistillate 5–7 mm.
Corollas

staminate 3.5–4.5 mm;

pistillate 5–8 mm.

staminate 3–4 mm;

pistillate 4–5 mm.
Phyllaries

distally white, pink, green, red, or brown.

distally dark pink to light pink or white.
Heads

2–7 in corymbiform arrays.

3–7 in corymbiform arrays.
Cypselae

1–1.8 mm, glabrous or minutely papillate;

pappi: staminate 4–5.5 mm;

pistillate 6.5–9 mm.

0.5–1 mm, papillate;

pappi: staminate 3.5–4.5 mm;

pistillate 5–6 mm.
2n

= 56, 84, 112, 140.

= 28.

Antennaria parvifolia

Antennaria dioica
Phenology Flowering late spring–summer. Flowering summer.
Habitat Prairies, pastures, roadsides, mountain parks, open deciduous woods, and drier coniferous forests, usually ponderosa or lodgepole pine Dry slopes on tundra
Elevation 100–3400 m (300–11200 ft) 0–600 m (0–2000 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AZ; CO; IA; ID; MI; MN; MT; ND; NE; NM; NV; OR; SD; TX; UT; WA; WY; AB; BC; MB; ON; SK; Okla (expected in panhandle); Wis (expected); Mexico (Chihuahua, Nuevo León)
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from USDA
Alaska (Aleutian Islands); Eurasia
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Antennaria parvifolia is a widespread, polyploid complex of sexual (dioecious) and asexual (gynoecious) populations (G. L. Stebbins 1932b; R. J. Bayer and Stebbins 1987). Although variable morphologically, no infraspecific taxa seem warranted at this time. Sexual (dioecious) populations are known primarily from New Mexico and Colorado; apomictic plants occur throughout the range of the species. Probable sexual diploid/tetraploid progenitors of the A. parvifolia complex include A. dioica, A. marginata, A. neglecta, and A. pulchella/A. media. Antennaria parvifolia is characterized by relatively short stature and relatively small numbers of relatively large heads. The epithet parvifolia has been rendered as “parviflora” in floras, e.g., key in Great Plains Flora Association (1986); E. H. Moss (1959); H. J. Scoggan (1978–1979, part 4). In some floras, A. parvifolia has been confused with A. microphylla; the two are probably not closely related.

(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. 406. 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. microphylla, A. monocephala, A. neglecta, A. parlinii, 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. aprica, A. aprica var. aureola, A. aprica var. minuscula, A. aureola, A. dioica var. parvifolia, A. holmii, A. latisquamea, A. minuscula, A. recurva, A. rhodantha Gnaphalium dioicum, A. hyperborea, A. insularis
Name authority Nuttall: Trans. Amer. Philos. Soc., n. s. 7: 406. (1841) (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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