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Pussytoes (male flowers)

Antennaria

Photo by RiekoS
Published on Project Noah
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42.2695, -74.7268

Field Notes

Description:

Antennaria is a genus of about 45 species of herbaceous perennial plants in the family Asteraceae, native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere, with one species (A. chilensis) in temperate southern South America; the highest species diversity is in North America. Common names include catsfoot or cat's-foot, pussytoes and everlasting.

Different Antennaria species reach between 10 cm and 50 cm in height. The leaves are basal and often stem leaves. The name Antennaria refers to the projecting stamens seen on the flowers of some species, resembling insect antennae.

Antennaria species are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species including Coleophora pappiferella (which feeds exclusively on A. dioica) and Schinia verna (which feeds exclusively on Antennaria spp). --From Wikipedia

Species ID Suggestions

Pussytoes (male flowers)

Antennaria

Comments (2)

Thank you very much for ID drP. I found another plants just before this. The flowers were totally different, so I thought I found two different plants. But, I discovered that they were dioecious plants. http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/23455094
There are many species of Antennaria, and many are very difficult to distinguish. Pussytoes are dioecious plants; that is, they have separate male and female plants. The presence of anthers in your photo indicates that this is a male plant. The stamens stick out like antennae, giving the genus its name.
Photographed
PublishedMay 18, 2013

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