The green links below add additional plants to the comparison table. Blue links lead to other Web sites.
enable glossary links

Antennaire rosée, rosy everlasting, rosy pussytoes

stoloniferous pussytoes

Habit Gynoecious (staminate plants uncommon). Dioecious.
Plants

4–30 cm.

3–10 cm.

Stolons

1–7 cm.

2–5 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 or rhombic-spatulate, 3–18 × 3–6 mm, tips mucronate, abaxial faces gray-tomentose, adaxial green-glabrous.

Cauline leaves

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

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

Involucres

staminate unknown; pistillate 4–10 mm.

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

Corollas

staminate unknown; pistillate 2.5–6 mm.

staminate 3–4 mm; pistillate 4–5 mm.

Phyllaries

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

distally dark pink to light pink or white.

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, papillate;

pappi: staminate 3.5–4.5 mm; pistillate 5–6 mm.

2n

= 42, 56, (70).

= 28.

Antennaria rosea

Antennaria dioica

Phenology Flowering summer.
Habitat Dry slopes on tundra
Elevation 0–600 m (0–2000 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
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from USDA
Alaska (Aleutian Islands); Eurasia
[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 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.)

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. 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. 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. 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
Subordinate taxa
A. rosea subsp. arida, A. rosea subsp. confinis, A. rosea subsp. pulvinata, A. rosea subsp. rosea
Synonyms Gnaphalium dioicum, A. hyperborea, A. insularis
Name authority Greene: Pittonia 3: 281. (1898) (Linnaeus) Gaertner: Fruct. Sem. Pl. 2: 410. (1791)
Web links