Key to Antennaria

View taxon page for Antennaria

(For a list of species in Antennaria, use the above link.)

Jepson Manual glossary definitions can be seen by moving your cursor over words underlined with dots.

1. Heads 1 per flower stem

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

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

acute 

Having a short-tapered, sharp tip, the sides convex or straight and converging at less than a right angle.

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, sometimes forming clumps via rhizomes

5. Involucre proximally densely 

tomentose 

Covered with densely interwoven, generally matted hairs.

; phyllary tips generally pink to red or light to dark brown, occasionally olive-green

6. Rosette leaves absent; phyllary tips generally pink to red..... A. geyeri

6' Rosette leaves present; phyllary tips light to dark brown, occasionally olive-green ..... A. sawyeri

5' Involucre ± glabrous

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

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

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

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

4' Stolons present, plants forming mats

9. Rosette leaves 

elliptic 

In the shape of a flattened circle or ellipse; wider than linear

, green adaxially; inflorescence raceme- or panicle-like; 

peduncles 

Stalk of an individual flower borne singly, not in an inflorescence, or of an entire inflorescence, or the corresponding structure in fruit; the stalk subtending an involucre (e.g., in Asteraceae, Polygonaceae).

10–30 mm; inflorescence finely glandular ..... A. racemosa

9' Rosette leaves 

linear 

Elongate, with nearly parallel sides; narrower than elliptic or oblong.

or oblanceolate to spoon- or wedge-shaped; inflorescence cyme-like; peduncles < 5 mm; inflorescence glandular or not

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

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

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

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

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

13. Most proximal cauline 

leaf 

Organ arising from a stem, generally composed of a stalk (petiole) and a flat, expanded, green, photosynthetic area (blade); distinguished from a leaflet by the presence in its axil of a bud, branch, thorn, or flower; sometimes with lateral, basal appendages (stipules); either simple (toothed, lobed, or dissected but not divided into leaflets) or compound (divided into leaflets).

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

13' 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

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

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

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

15. Stem distally stalked-glandular ..... A. microphylla

15' Stem not glandular

16. Stolons slightly woody, 

ascending 

Curving or angling upward from base, or about 30-60 degrees less than vertical or away from axis of attachment.

; 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

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

17. Longest leaf of flower 

rosettes 

A radiating cluster of leaves generally at or near ground level.

8–20 mm; phyllaries often brown ..... subsp. confinis

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

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