Howell’s pussytoes

not listed

N5 - Secure

SNR - Unranked

not listed

Howell’s pussytoes (ssp. petaloidea) is an evergreen woolly wildflower. It occurs across North America but is most common in the United States from Maine to New Jersey west to Minnesota. It is not common in Minnesota. It is found in fields, pastures, woodland openings, and rock barrens. It grows under full sun in dry to moderately moist sandy soil.

Howell’s pussytoes (ssp. petaloidea) is an erect, 3″ to 13¾″ (8 to 35 cm) tall, perennial forb that rises on a rosette of basal leaves and a flowering stem from fibrous roots. It spreads by producing above ground runners (stolons). The stolons are densely woolly, slender, and 1½″ to 3½″ (4 to 9 cm) long. They are cord-like with few leaves. They root at the nodes, often forming colonies. The leaves along the stolons are similar to but smaller than the basal leaves.

Basal leaves are unstalked, ⅝″ to 1¾″ (15 to 45 mm) long, sometimes longer, and 3⁄16″ to ¾″ (5 to 20 mm) wide. The leaf blades are inversely lance-shaped, spatula-shaped, or inversely egg-shaped. They are pointed or rounded at the tip and have an abrupt, short, sharp point at the tip (mucronate). There is usually just a single vein extending from the base to the tip. Sometimes there is also a pair of obscure partial veins that can best be seen on the underside. The lower surface is densely covered with white, short, matted or tangled, soft, woolly hairs. The upper surface is covered with gray woolly hairs but becomes hairless at maturity. The margins are untoothed. Basal leaves are often evergreen.

A flowering stem arises from the stolon of the previous year’s growth. The stem is erect, sparsely leafy, and densely covered with white woolly hairs. Stem leaves are much smaller than basal leaves. They are alternate, unstalked, linear, narrowly pointed at the tip, and ⅜″ to 1¾″ (10 to 35 mm) long. There is a short, flat or inrolled, papery extension (flag) at the tip of all of the middle and upper leaves. The upper and lower surfaces are densely covered with white woolly hairs.

The inflorescence is a tight, round-topped cluster (corymb) of usually 4 to 10, sometimes more, narrow flower heads at the end of the stem. Male and female flowers are borne on separate plants. Male plants are very uncommon. When no male plants are present, fertilization of the ovule does not take place and only female plants are produced (parthenogenesis). This results in some populations being composed entirely of female plants.

The whorl of 3 to 6 or more bracts (involucre) subtending each flower head on male (staminate) plants is ¼″ (6 to 6.5 mm) long. The involucre on female (pistillate) plants is ¼″ to 7⁄16″ (7 to 11 mm) long. The bracts of the involucre (phyllaries) are narrow, green or reddish at the base, and white or cream-colored at the tip. The outer bracts are loosely covered with woolly hairs. The flower heads have 20 to 100 white or pinkish, tubular disk florets and no ray florets. Staminate florets are ⅛″ (3 to 4 mm) long. Pistillate florets are ⅛″ to ¼″ (4.0 to 6..5 mm) long or longer. Staminate plants have numerous columns of stamens protruding above the flower head.

The fruit is an elliptic to egg-shaped, 1⁄32″ to 1⁄16″ (0.8 to 1.7 mm) long, one-seeded capsule (cypsela). It is hairless and minutely bumpy (pappilate), and there is a tuft of hairs (pappus) at the tip. On staminate plants the pappus is ⅛″ (4 to 4.5 mm) long, on pistillate plants it is ⅛″ to ¼″ (4.0 to 6.5mm) long or longer.

3″ to 13¾″ (8 to 35 cm)

White to pinkish

Canadian pussytoes (Antennaria howellii ssp. canadensis) basal leaves have just one vein, and are green and hairless on the upper side.

Howell’s pussytoes (Antennaria howellii ssp. neodioica) stolon leaves are almost as large as the basal leaves. The basal leaves have well-defined petioles. There is a flag at the tip of only the leaves near the inflorescence. The middle and upper leaves are not flagged.

Dry to moderate moisture. Fields, pastures, woodland openings, and rock barrens. Full sun. Sandy soil.

Mid-spring to early summer

Sources

4, 7, 24, 28, 29, 30.

Native