Flora of North America species comparison

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Antennaria suffrutescens

Antennaria media

evergreen everlasting, evergreen pussytoes, everlasting pussytoes, shrubby pussytoes, Siskiyou everlasting

alpine pussytoes, dark pussytoes, Rocky Mountain pussytoes
Habit Dioecious. Dioecious or gynoecious (staminate plants rare or in equal frequency to pistillates, respectively).
Plants

5–12 cm (densely tufted, bases woody; root crowns relatively slender).

5–13 cm.
Stolons

none.

1–4 cm.
Basal leaves

absent at flowering.

1-nerved, spatulate to oblanceolate, 6–19 × 2.5–6 mm, tips mucronate, faces gray-pubescent.
Cauline leaves

spatulate, 5–12 × 2–4 mm, not flagged (apices emarginate or obtuse, abaxial faces tomentose, adaxial green).

linear, 5–20 mm, not flagged (apices acute).
Involucres

staminate 5–9 mm; pistillate 10–15 mm.

staminate (3.5–)4.5–6.5 mm; pistillate 4–8 mm.
Corollas

staminate 4–5 mm; pistillate 5–8 mm.

staminate 2.5–4.5 mm; pistillate 3–4.5 mm.
Phyllaries

(relatively wide) distally white.

distally dark brown, black, or olivaceous.
Heads

borne singly.

2–5(–9) in corymbiform arrays.
Cypselae

1–2 mm, papillate;

pappi: staminate 4.5–5.5 mm; pistillate 7–9 mm.

0.6–1.6 mm, glabrous or papillate;

pappi: staminate 2.5–4.5 mm; pistillate 4–5.5 mm.
2n

= 28.

= 56, 98, 112.

Antennaria suffrutescens

Antennaria media
Phenology Flowering early summer. Flowering summer.
Habitat Dry, open coniferous woods or barren slopes on serpentine Dry, rocky to moist alpine tundra
Elevation 500–1600 m (1600–5200 ft) 1500–3800 m (4900–12500 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
CA; OR
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AK; AZ; CA; CO; ID; MT; NM; NV; OR; UT; WA; WY; AB; BC; NT; YT
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Antennaria suffrutescens is characterized by suffrutescent growth form, relatively small, emarginate, adaxially glabrous, coriaceous leaves, and relatively large heads borne singly. It is known only from serpentine soils in open montane pine forests in Curry and Josephine counties, Oregon, and neighboring Del Norte and Humboldt counties, California (R. J. Bayer and G. L. Stebbins 1987). Antennaria suffrutescens may have contributed to the origin of some of the clones of the A. rosea complex (e.g., J. T. Howell 27718, NY).

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

Antennaria media ranges from Arizona to Alaska; dioecious and gynoecious populations are encountered (R. J. Bayer and G. L. Stebbins 1987). The dioecious (sexual) populations are restricted primarily to California and Oregon (Bayer et al. 1990). The main distinction between A. media and A. alpina is flags on distal cauline leaves present in A. alpina and mostly absent in A. media (Bayer 1990d). Phyllaries of the pistillate plants in A. alpina tend to be acute; they are blunter in A. media. At some point, it may be preferable to follow W. L. Jepson ([1923–1925]) and some later authors and treat A. media as a subspecies of A. alpina. Antennaria media appears to be an autopolyploid derivative of A. pulchella; genes from A. pulchella may have introgressed into the A. alpina and A. parvifolia complexes indirectly through A. media.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 19, p. 408. FNA vol. 19, p. 411.
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. rosea, A. rosulata, A. soliceps, A. solitaria, A. stenophylla, 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. 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. alpina var. media, A. austromontana, A. candida, A. densa, A. modesta, A. mucronata
Name authority Greene: Pittonia 3: 277. (1898) Greene: Pittonia 3: 286. (1898)
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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