Antennaria parvifolia

Antennaria parvifolia
Conservation status
Secure  (NatureServe)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Eudicots
(unranked):	Asterids
Order:	Asterales
Family:	Asteraceae
Genus:	Antennaria
Species:	A. parvifolia
Binomial name
Antennaria parvifolia Nutt.
Synonyms
Antennaria aprica Antennaria aureola Antennaria holmii Antennaria latisquamea Antennaria miniscula Antennaria obtusata Antennaria pumila Antennaria recurva Antennaria rhodanthus

Antennaria parvifolia is a species of flowering plant in the aster family known by the common names Nuttall's pussytoes and small-leaf pussytoes (not to be confused with littleleaf pussytoes). It is native to North America, where it occurs throughout much of Canada from British Columbia to Ontario, the western and central United States, and northern Mexico.^[1][2] It has not been observed in California since 1987.^[3]

This plant generally grows a few centimeters high but it may reach 15 centimeters. The grayish, woolly-haired leaves are up to 3.5 centimeters long, the upper ones shorter and narrower than the basal. The inflorescence contains 2 to 7 flower heads. The plant may be gynoecious, containing only female flowers, or dioecious, with some female plants and some male in a given population. Dioecious plants are most common in Colorado and New Mexico,^[1] and can reproduce sexually, though male plants are much less common than female.^[3] Plants in most other areas are mostly gynoecious, reproducing via apomixis.^[1] The plant forms mats by spreading stolons and sprouting new stems.^[3] The flower heads are lined with an outer layer of phyllaries which are variable in color from white to red, green, or brown.^[1] The fruit is an achene with a pappus that helps it disperse on the wind.

In Colorado this plant is an indicator of overgrazing and increases in frequency on heavily grazed land. It grows in disturbed habitat and a wide variety of ecosystems and soil types.^[3]

References