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This text currently parallels The Jepson Manual: Vascular Plants of California, Second Edition that is now available at the University of California Press.

Text appearing in blue on this page will not appear in the printed book; it will be displayed only on the Web. Specimen numbers are hyperlinked to records in the Consortium of California Herbaria data view where possible. Taxa are hyperlinked to entries in the Jepson Interchange via the "[Online Interchange]" link.

 

ANTENNARIA PUSSY-TOES

Randall J. Bayer


Perennial, often matted; dioecious; staminate plants present or 0.
Leaf: alternate, entire, generally ± tomentose.
Inflorescence: heads discoid or disciform, 1 or in cyme-like ( raceme- or panicle-like) clusters; phyllaries many, graduated in several series, papery or membranous (wider, more conspicuous in staminate heads); receptacle flat to convex or ovoid, epaleate.
Pistillate flower: 2–10 mm; corolla barely lobed, white, yellow, or red.
Staminate flower: 2–5 mm; corolla white, yellow, or red; pappus bristle tips generally enlarged.
Fruit: 0.5–3.5 mm, ± elliptic; pappus bristles many, soft, weakly barbed.
± 40 species: Am, n Eurasia. (Latin: antenna, describing pappus bristles of staminate flowers) [Bayer 2006 FNANM 19:388–415] Races of some species reproduce by asexual seeds, their populations entirely pistillate plants. KR plants reported from CA in FNANM as Antennaria lanata (Hook.) Greene may be an undescribed taxon.
Unabridged references: [Bayer 1990 Canad J Bot 68:1389–1397; Bayer 1990 Madroño 37:171–183]

Key to Antennaria

1. Heads 1 per flower stem

2. St 5–12 cm; leaves thick, green adaxially, tips notched ..... A. suffrutescens

2' St < 4 cm; leaves thin, gray-tomentose adaxially, tips acute

3. Stolons 0 ..... A. dimorpha

3' Stolons long, slender, ± leafless ..... A. flagellaris

1' Heads 2–many per flower stem

4. Stolons 0, plants not forming mats

5. Involucre proximally densely tomentose; phyllary tips generally pink to red ..... A. geyeri

5' Involucre ± glabrous

6. Proximal leaves 7–20 mm wide; stem 18–40 cm; phyllaries white or cream, unequal ..... A. argentea

6' Proximal leaves 1–10 mm wide; stems 7–25 cm; phyllaries straw-colored or pale, ± equal ..... A. luzuloides

7. Heads 10–30 in raceme- or panicle-like cluster ..... subsp. aberrans

7' Heads 10–110 in ± flat-topped, cyme-like cluster ..... subsp. luzuloides

4' Stolons present, plants forming mats

8. Rosette leaves elliptic, green adaxially; inflorescence raceme- or panicle-like; peduncles 10–30 mm; inflorescence finely glandular ..... A. racemosa

8' Rosette leaves linear or oblanceolate to spoon- or wedge-shaped; inflorescence cyme-like; peduncles < 5 mm; inflorescence glandular or not

9. Rosette leaves green or lightly tomentose adaxially, 1–3-veined

10. Rosette leaves > 6 mm wide, 1–3-veined; cauline leaves 20–40 mm; inflorescence not glandular; KR ..... A. howellii subsp. howellii

10' Rosette leaves <= 6 mm wide, 1-veined; cauline leaves 7–16 mm; inflorescence generally glandular; SnBr ..... A. marginata

9' Rosette leaves gray- to silvery-tomentose adaxially, 1-veined

11. Phyllaries dark brown to black; stem 3–13 cm

12. Most proximal cauline leaf 11–20 mm; herbage generally not glandular; pistillate flower corolla 3–4.5 mm in fruit; staminate corolla generally 2.8–4.5 mm in flower ..... A. media

12' Most proximal cauline leaf <= 11 mm; herbage generally glandular; pistillate corolla 2–3 mm in fruit; staminate corolla generally <= 2.8 mm in flower ..... A. pulchella

11' Phyllaries white to pale yellow, rose or pale brown; stem 6–40 cm

13. Phyllaries white-tipped with a prominent ± black-brown spot near base of scarious part ..... A. corymbosa

13' Phyllaries white or white-tipped, rose, straw-colored or (paler) brown, not dark-spotted near base

14. St distally stalked-glandular ..... A. microphylla

14' St not glandular

15. Stolons slightly woody, ascending; phyllaries pale yellow to pale brown distally, narrow and acute (pistillate) or wide and blunt (staminate); staminate plants present — n SNH, W&I ..... A. umbrinella

15' Stolons not woody, horizontal to ascending; phyllaries various colors, tips acute; staminate plants ± 0 ..... A. rosea

16. Longest leaf of flower rosettes 8–20 mm; phyllaries often brown ..... subsp. confinis

16' Longest leaf of flower rosettes 20–40 mm; phyllaries generally not brown ..... subsp. rosea

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