Rocky Mountain Pussytoes Antennaria media Aster family (Asteraceae)
This miniature does not usually grow more than three inches tall. It has dark and young colonies of plants are as cute as they come. They send out roots or to reproduce in the large, matted colonies common to most Antennaria. The plant would be hard to notice if it were not growing on sparsely populated . Edward Greene named this species from a specimen he collected in California in 1901. "Media" is Latin for "middle."
Low, hairy, plants reproducing by suckers or from the rootstock. are slender and rather short. Flowering stems are 1 to 3" tall. are 2/5 to 4/5" long, -, white or gray hairy on both sides. Stem leaves are . Flower heads 3-7 on short at ends of stems. about 1/6" high, dark brown. of are club-shaped. an .
A peduncle is a common stalk of a cluster of flowers.
A perennial plant lives and blooms for many years.
phyllaries -- Leaflike bracts covering the flowers before opening and remaining under the
flower after it opens. Also called "bracts". Only used with the sunflower family (Asteraceae).
achene -- a type of simple dry fruit produced by many species of flowering plants.
For example, a rose hip holds a few achenes.
Involucre is the name given to the circle or spiral collection
of bracts around a flower-cluster.
Bracts are modified leaves associated with a flower.
tundra -- Land above tree line characterized by a short growing season, intense sun
and wind, thin soils, very high snow fall and high rain fall. Contains low
growing sedges, grasses, dwarf shrubs and herbs.
pappus -- Small scales, bristles or hairs at the top of the seed in Asteraceae. For example,
dandelion parachutes. Plural: pappi.
stolon -- A slender modified stem running along the ground, rooting at the tip,
and sprouting new plants. Strawberries have stolons. Also called runners.
fruit -- any seed-bearing structure in flowering plants.
It is formed from the ovary after flowering.
spatulate -- spoon-shaped.
bristle -- A straight, stiff hair.
basal leaves -- a leaf that grows lowest on the stem of a plant.
staminate flowers -- Having only male, pollen producing floral parts.
dioecious -- When male and female reproductive structures are on separate plants.
linear -- Long and very narrow like a blade of grass.
