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Antennaria alpina

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Antennaria alpina

Secure  (NatureServe)[1]
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Asterales
Family: Asteraceae
Genus: Antennaria
Species:
A. alpina
Binomial name
Antennaria alpina
Synonyms[2]
  • Gnaphalium alpinum

Antennaria alpina (alpine pussytoes, alpine catsfoot, or alpine everlasting) is a European and North American species of plant in the family Asteraceae. Antennaria alpina is native to mountainous and subarctic regions of Scandinavia, Greenland, Alaska, and the Canadian Arctic, extending south at high altitudes in mountains in the Rocky Mountains south to Montana and Wyoming.[3][4]

Description

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Antennaria alpina is a perennial, herbaceous plant growing 3 to 18 centimeters tall. The plant spreads by means of stolons that reach between 1 and 7 cm in length.[5] It is a cushion plant, a compact, low-growing, mat-forming plant, with a dense taproot that forms annual growth rings.[6]

The basal leaves, those attached to the base of the plant, have one prominent vein and are spatulate to oblanceolate in shape, with a length of 6 to 25 millimeters and a width of 2 to 7 mm. The surface of the leaves are green and nearly hairless to gray in color with many hairs, but the undersides are tomentose, white due to a thick covering of woolly hairs. The leaves attached to the stems are even smaller, and narrow like a blade of grass, just 5 to 20 mm long.[5]

Each stem is topped with two to seven flowering heads.[5][7] They have somewhat black bracts.[7] Both the plants in North America and Scandinavia are mostly gynoecious, having almost all seed producing flowers and rarely producing flowers with pollen.[5][8] It is an apomict, a species that will produce seeds asexually that are genetically identical to the parent.[9] The involucre, the base under a flowering head, is 5–6.5 mm and 4–10 mm for a seed producing flower. They bloom in mid to late summer.[5]

Taxonomy

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In 1753 Carl Linnaeus described a species he named Gnaphalium alpinum.[2] This was moved to Antennaria by Joseph Gaertner, a new genus he created in 1791,[10] to give the species its accepted name.[2] It is further classified in the large family Asteraceae. According to Plants of the World Online, Antennaria alpina has 55 synonyms.[2]

Table of Synonyms
Name Year Rank Notes
Antennaria alpina var. cana Fernald & Wiegand 1911 variety = het.
Antennaria alpina subsp. canescens (Lange) Chmiel. 1998 subspecies = het.
Antennaria alpina var. canescens Lange 1869 variety = het.
Antennaria alpina var. compacta (Malte) S.L.Welsh 1968 variety = het.
Antennaria alpina var. glabrata J.Vahl 1869 variety = het.
Antennaria alpina var. intermedia Rosenv. 1891 variety = het.
Antennaria alpina f. latifolia Ekman 1927 form = het.
Antennaria alpina var. ramosissima Lange 1887 variety = het.
Antennaria alpina var. stolonifera (A.E.Porsild) S.L.Welsh 1968 variety = het.
Antennaria alpina var. typica Fernald 1924 variety = het., not validly publ.
Antennaria alpina var. ungavensis Fernald 1916 variety = het.
Antennaria arenicola Malte 1934 species = het.
Antennaria atriceps Fernald ex Raup 1934 species = het.
Antennaria bayardii Fernald 1933 species = het.
Antennaria borealis Greene 1899 species = het.
Antennaria brunnescens Fernald 1933 species = het.
Antennaria cana Fernald 1916 species = het.
Antennaria canescens f. fastigiata Böcher 1963 form = het.
Antennaria canescens var. pseudoporsildii Böcher 1963 variety = het.
Antennaria columnaris Fernald 1933 species = het.
Antennaria compacta Malte 1934 species = het.
Antennaria confusa Fernald 1933 species = het.
Antennaria crymophila A.E.Porsild 1943 species = het.
Antennaria foggii Fernald 1933 species = het.
Antennaria friesiana subsp. compacta (Malte) Hultén 1968 subspecies = het.
Antennaria glabrata Greene 1898 species = het.
Antennaria glabrata f. ramosa A.E.Porsild 1926 form = het.
Antennaria intermedia (Rosenv.) Porsild 1914 species = het.
Antennaria labradorica Nutt. 1841 species = het.
Antennaria lapponica Selander 1950 species = het.
Antennaria longii Fernald 1927 species = het.
Antennaria media subsp. compacta (Malte) Chmiel. 1997 subspecies = het.
Antennaria pallida E.E.Nelson 1901 species = het.
Antennaria pedunculata A.E.Porsild 1950 species = het.
Antennaria porsildii f. roseola Ekman 1927 form = het.
Antennaria stolonifera A.E.Porsild 1950 species = het.
Antennaria ungavensis Malte 1934 species = het.
Antennaria vexillifera Fernald 1924 species = het.
Antennaria wiegandii Fernald 1927 species = het.
Chamaezelum alpinum Link 1829 species = het.
Gnaphalium alpinum L. 1753 species ≡ hom.
Gnaphalium alpinum var. elatius Gaudin 1829 variety = het.
Gnaphalium dioicum var. alpicola Hartm. 1820 variety = het.
Gnaphalium monanthon Willd. ex DC. 1838 species = het.
Gnaphalium uniflorum Pall. ex DC. 1838 species = het., not validly publ.
Silene venosa proles maritima (With.) Samp. 1911 proles = het.
Silene venosa subsp. alpina (Lam.) Simonk. 1877 subspecies = het.
Silene venosa var. maritima (With.) Menezes 1914 variety = het.
Silene vulgaris subsp. alpina (Lam.) Nyman 1878 subspecies = het.
Silene vulgaris subsp. cratericola Franco 1971 subspecies = het.
Silene vulgaris subsp. maritima (With.) Á.Löve & D.Löve 1961 subspecies = het.
Silene vulgaris subsp. thorei (Dufour) Chater & Walters 1964 subspecies = het.
Silene willdenowii Sweet ex O.Schwarz 1949 species = het.
Viscago maritima With. 1796 species = het.
Wahlbergella uniflora (Roth) Fr. 1843 species = het.
Notes: ≡ homotypic synonym ; = heterotypic synonym

Names

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Antennaria alpina is know by the common names alpine pussytoes,[11] alpine catsfoot,[7] or alpine everlasting.[12]

Range and habitat

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Alpine pussytoes are limited to alpine and boreal habitats.[9] In Europe it is native to Norway, Sweden, Finland, and northern parts of European Russia.[2] It grows in the mountains of Sweden and Norway in the south and towards the North Sea coast further to the north.[13] In Asia it grows in the botanical area of the Magadan Oblast which also includes the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug at the far eastern tip of Russia.[2]

In North America it is found in Alaska and the three nortnern territories of Canda. Further south it grows in both Alberta and British Columbia in the west and parts of Ontario, Québec, Labrador, and Newfoundland in the east. In the contiguious US it only grows in Montana and Wyoming.[2] The Natural Resources Conservation Service database only records it in six scattered counties in Montana.[11] On Greenland it is a common plant found as far north at 75°23' N in the west and to 74°50' N in the east.[7] It grows at elevations between 100 and 2400 meters.[5]

It grows in dry to moist tundra and alpine tundra.[5]

References

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  1. ^ "NatureServe Explorer - Antennaria alpina". NatureServe Explorer Antennaria alpina. NatureServe. 2022-06-22. Retrieved 22 Jun 2022.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g POWO. "Antennaria alpina (L.) Gaertn". Plants of the World Online. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Retrieved 19 June 2025.
  3. ^ Cody, W. J. 1996. Flora of the Yukon Territory i–xvii, 1–669. NRC Research Press, Ottawa.
  4. ^ Moss, E. H. 1983. Flora of Alberta (ed. 2) i–xii, 1–687. University of Toronto Press, Toronto.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g Bayer, Randall J. (5 November 2020) [In print 2006]. "Antennaria alpina". Flora of North America. p. 414. ISBN 978-0-19-530563-0. OCLC 179887026. Archived from the original on 8 July 2024. Retrieved 19 June 2025.
  6. ^ Schweingruber, Fritz H.; Börner, Annett (2018). The Plant Stem: A Microscopic Aspect (1st ed.). Cham, Germany: Springer. p. 115. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-73524-5. ISBN 978-3-319-73524-5. Retrieved 20 June 2025.
  7. ^ a b c d Rune, Flemming (2011). Wild Flowers of Greenland = Grønlands Vilde Planter (in English and Danish) (first ed.). Hillerød, Denmark ; Qeqertarsuaq, Greenland: Gyldenlund Publishing, in collaboration with Arctic Station, University of Copenhagen. p. 288. ISBN 978-87-993172-5-7. OCLC 794007591. Retrieved 19 June 2025.
  8. ^ Gibbons, Bob (2007). Philip's Wild Flowers of Britain and Northern Europe. London: Philip's. p. 258. ISBN 978-0-540-08982-6. OCLC 84150936. Retrieved 19 June 2025.
  9. ^ a b Dahl, Eilif (1998). The Phytogeography of Northern Europe : British Isles, Fennoscandia, and Adjacent Areas. Cambridge ; New York: Cambridge University Press. p. 236. ISBN 978-0-521-38358-5. OCLC 36045920. Retrieved 19 June 2025.
  10. ^ "Antennaria Gaertn". Plants of the World Online. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Retrieved 19 June 2025.
  11. ^ a b NRCS. "Antennaria alpina". PLANTS Database. United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Retrieved 6 September 2016.
  12. ^ TWC Staff (2 March 2023). "Plant Database: Antennaria alpina". Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. University of Texas at Austin. Retrieved 19 June 2025.
  13. ^ Fitter, Alastair (1978). An Atlas of the Wild Flowers of Britain and Northern Europe. London: Collins. p. 197. ISBN 978-0-00-219181-4. OCLC 4078338. Retrieved 19 June 2025.
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