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Antennaire rosée, rosy everlasting, rosy pussytoes

flat-top pussytoes, meadow pussytoes

Habit Gynoecious (staminate plants uncommon). Dioecious.
Plants

4–30 cm.

6–15 cm.

Stolons

1–7 cm.

1–10 cm.

Basal leaves

1-nerved, 8–40 × 2–10 mm, spatulate, oblanceolate, or cuneate, tips mucronate, faces usually gray-pubescent, adaxial sometimes green-glabrous.

1-nerved, spatulate, 18–45 × 2–4 mm, tips mucronate, faces ± gray-tomentose.

Cauline leaves

linear, 6–36 mm, usually not flagged (apices acute to subulate or with lanceolate flags).

linear, 8–13 mm, not flagged (apices acuminate).

Involucres

staminate unknown; pistillate 4–10 mm.

staminate 4–5.3 mm; pistillate 4–5 mm.

Corollas

staminate unknown; pistillate 2.5–6 mm.

staminate 2–3.2 mm; pistillate 2.5–3.5 mm.

Phyllaries

distally brown, cream, gray, green, pink, red, white, or yellow (apices acute or erose-obtuse).

(bases each with distinct dark brown or blackish spot) distally white or light brown.

Heads

3–20 in corymbiform arrays.

3–7 in corymbiform arrays.

Cypselae

0.7–1.8 mm, glabrous or papillate;

pappi: staminate unknown; pistillate 3.5–6.5 mm.

0.5–1 mm, slightly papillate;

pappi: staminate 2.5–3.5 mm; pistillate 3.5–4.5 mm.

2n

= 42, 56, (70).

= 28.

Antennaria rosea

Antennaria corymbosa

Phenology Flowering early–mid summer.
Habitat Moist subalpine-alpine willow thickets in the Rocky and Cascade mountains, the Sierra Nevada and mountains of the Great Basin
Elevation 1900–3500 m (6200–11500 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AK; AZ; CA; CO; ID; ME; MI; MN; MT; ND; NM; NV; OR; SD; UT; WA; WY; AB; BC; MB; NL; NT; NU; ON; QC; SK; YT
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[BONAP county map]
from FNA
CA; CO; ID; MT; NM; NV; OR; UT; WA; WY
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Subspecies 4 (4 in the flora).

Antennaria rosea is the most widespread Antennaria of North America, occurring in dry to moist habitats from near sea level to the alpine zone. The A. rosea polyploid agamic complex is one of the more morphologically diverse complexes of North American Antennaria. It occurs from the western cordillera of North America from southern California, Arizona, and New Mexico north to subarctic Alaska and east to Greenland and, disjunctly, in the Canadian maritime provinces, eastern Quebec, and immediately north of and adjacent to Lake Superior (R. J. Bayer et al. 1991). Antennaria chilensis (including A. chilensis var. magellanica) is a Patagonian endemic that morphologically fits within the circumscription of A. rosea and may well be an amphitropical disjunct member of the complex.

Antennaria rosea is taxonomically confusing; it includes agamospermous microspecies that have been recognized as distinct taxonomic species. Morphometric and isozyme analyses have demonstrated that the primary source of morphologic variability in the complex derives from six sexually reproducing progenitors, A. aromatica, A. corymbosa, A. pulchella, A. microphylla, A. racemosa, and A. umbrinella (R. J. Bayer 1989b, 1990b, 1990c). Additionally, three other sexually reproducing species, A. marginata, A. suffrutescens, and A. rosulata, may have contributed to the genetic complexity of the A. rosea complex (Bayer 1990b). Here, four reasonably distinct subspecies are recognized within the complex.

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

Antennaria corymbosa is characterized by linear-oblanceolate basal leaves and white-tipped phyllaries, each with a distinct black spot near the base of the scarious portion. A form with black phyllaries (A. acuta) occurs sporadically throughout the range of the species (R. J. Bayer 1988). Antennaria corymbosa is a sexual progenitor of the A. rosea complex.

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

Key
1. Basal leaves 20–40 mm; phyllaries distally usually green, pink, red or white, seldom brown
subsp. rosea
1. Basal leaves 8–20 mm; phyllaries distally brown, cream, gray, green, pink, red, white, or yellow
→ 2
2. Pistillate: involucres 4–6.5 mm, corollas 2.5–4, pappi 3.5–5; cauline leaves 6–20 mm (tips subulate); phyllaries usually distally brown, sometimes cream, gray, or yellow
subsp. confinis
2. Pistillate: involucres 6.5–10 mm, corollas 3.5–6 mm, pappi 5–6.5 mm; cauline leaves 6–19 or 9–26 mm (tips sometimes with flat, lanceolate scarious appendages); phyllaries distally brown, green, pink, red, or white
→ 3
3. Plants 19–30 cm; cauline leaves 9–26 mm (proximalmost usually 19+ mm); heads usu- ally 6–12
subsp. arida
3. Plants 4–17 cm; cauline leaves 6–19 mm (proximalmost usually less than 19 mm); heads usually 3–5
subsp. pulvinata
Source FNA vol. 19, p. 408. FNA vol. 19, p. 407.
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. parvifolia, A. plantaginifolia, A. pulchella, A. pulcherrima, A. racemosa, 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. 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. racemosa, A. rosea, A. rosulata, A. soliceps, A. solitaria, A. stenophylla, A. suffrutescens, A. umbrinella, A. virginica
Subordinate taxa
A. rosea subsp. arida, A. rosea subsp. confinis, A. rosea subsp. pulvinata, A. rosea subsp. rosea
Synonyms A. acuta, A. dioica var. corymbosa, A. hygrophila, A. nardina
Name authority Greene: Pittonia 3: 281. (1898) E. E. Nelson: Bot. Gaz. 27: 212. (1899)
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