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

white margined pussytoes, white-margined everlasting, whitemargin pussytoes

Habit Dioecious or gynoecious (staminate plants uncommon or in equal frequency as pistillates, respectively). Dioecious or gynoecious (staminate plants in equal frequency as pistillates or none in populations, respectively).
Plants

2–8(–15) cm.

5–20 cm (stems sometimes stipitate-glandular, especially in dioecious diploids).

Stolons

1–6 cm.

2–7 cm (woolly).

Basal leaves

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

1–3-nerved, spatulate, 15–20 × 4–6 mm, tips mucronate, abaxial faces gray-tomentose, adaxial green-glabrous (margins white woolly).

Cauline leaves

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

linear, 7–16 mm, (apices acute) not flagged.

Involucres

staminate 5.5–7.5 mm;

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

staminate 4.5–7 mm;

pistillate 5–7(–9) mm.

Corollas

staminate 3.5–4.5 mm;

pistillate 5–8 mm.

staminate 3–5 mm;

pistillate 4.5–6.5 mm.

Phyllaries

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

(relatively wide), distally white (apices acuminate).

Heads

2–7 in corymbiform arrays.

5–8 in corymbiform arrays.

Cypselae

1–1.8 mm, glabrous or minutely papillate;

pappi: staminate 4–5.5 mm;

pistillate 6.5–9 mm.

0.8–2 mm, glabrous or slightly papillate;

pappi: staminate 3.5–5.5 mm;

pistillate 5.5–8.5 mm.

2n

= 56, 84, 112, 140.

= 28, 56, 84, 112, 140.

Antennaria parvifolia

Antennaria marginata

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 Moist forests, slopes and tops of ridges under Douglas fir, ponderosa pine, Engelmann spruce or Gambel oaks, openings in the forests
Elevation 100–3400 m (300–11200 ft) 1500–2900 m (4900–9500 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 FNA
AZ; CA; CO; NM; TX; Mexico (Chihuahua, Coahuila)
[WildflowerSearch map]
[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 marginata has rims of white hairs (from the abaxial faces) around its adaxially glabrous leaves. It has both dioecious and gynoecious populations and cytotypes ranging from diploid to decaploid (R. J. Bayer and G. L. Stebbins 1987). It is probably a primary sexual progenitor of the A. parvifolia polyploid complex; the two taxa sometimes overlap morphologically; they differ in induments of basal leaves. Antennaria marginata may also be a contributor to the parentage of the A. howellii and A. rosea agamic complexes.

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

Source FNA vol. 19, p. 406. FNA vol. 19, p. 405.
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. dioica, A. flagellaris, A. friesiana, A. geyeri, A. howellii, A. lanata, A. luzuloides, 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 A. dioica var. marginata, A. fendleri, A. marginata var. glandulifera, A. peramoena
Name authority Nuttall: Trans. Amer. Philos. Soc., n. s. 7: 406. (1841) Greene: Pittonia 3: 290. (1898)
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