''Antennaria rosea'' is a

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

n species of flowering plant in the family

Asteraceae The family Asteraceae, alternatively Compositae, consists of over 32,000 known species of flowering plants in over 1,900 genera within the order Asterales. Commonly referred to as the aster, daisy, composite, or sunflower family, Compositae w ...

known by the common name rosy pussytoes. Other common names include cat's foot and mountain everlasting. The second part of its scientific name, rosea, is Latin for pink. It is widespread across much of

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

including all three Arctic territories, as well as

Greenland Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland is t ...

, the western and north-central

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, and the

Mexican Mexican may refer to: Mexico and its culture *Being related to, from, or connected to the country of Mexico, in North America ** People *** Mexicans, inhabitants of the country Mexico and their descendants *** Mexica, ancient indigenous people ...

state of

Baja California Baja California (; 'Lower California'), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Baja California), is a state in Mexico. It is the northernmost and westernmost of the 32 federal entities of Mex ...

. ''Antennaria rosea'' is a plant of many habitats, from dry to wet climates and low elevation to very high. It is a very morphologically diverse species; individuals can look very different. It is

polyploid Polyploidy is a condition in which the cells of an organism have more than one pair of ( homologous) chromosomes. Most species whose cells have nuclei ( eukaryotes) are diploid, meaning they have two sets of chromosomes, where each set contain ...

and exhibits

apomixis In botany, apomixis is asexual reproduction without fertilization. Its etymology is Greek for "away from" + "mixing". This definition notably does not mention meiosis. Thus "normal asexual reproduction" of plants, such as propagation from cuttin ...

; most all the plants are female and they

reproduce asexually Asexual reproduction is a type of reproduction that does not involve the fusion of gametes or change in the number of chromosomes. The offspring that arise by asexual reproduction from either unicellular or multicellular organisms inherit the fu ...

. This

herbaceous Herbaceous plants are vascular plants that have no persistent woody stems above ground. This broad category of plants includes many perennials, and nearly all annuals and biennials. Definitions of "herb" and "herbaceous" The fourth edition of t ...

perennial A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives more than two years. The term ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the years") is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also wide ...

grows to a height of . It has a network of short

stolon In biology, stolons (from Latin '' stolō'', genitive ''stolōnis'' – "branch"), also known as runners, are horizontal connections between organisms. They may be part of the organism, or of its skeleton; typically, animal stolons are external s ...

s by which it spreads, its method of

vegetative reproduction Vegetative reproduction (also known as vegetative propagation, vegetative multiplication or cloning) is any form of asexual reproduction occurring in plants in which a new plant grows from a fragment or cutting of the parent plant or spec ...

. It forms a basal patch of woolly grayish leaves 1 to 4 cm long. Blooming early in summer, the

inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed o ...

contains several

flower heads A pseudanthium (Greek for "false flower"; ) is an inflorescence that resembles a flower. The word is sometimes used for other structures that are neither a true flower nor a true inflorescence. Examples of pseudanthia include flower heads, compos ...

in a cluster. Each head is lined with wide, pointed

phyllaries In botanical terminology, a phyllary, also known an involucral bract or tegule, is a single bract of the involucre of a composite flower. The involucre is the grouping of bracts together. Phyllaries are reduced leaf-like structures that form one or ...

which are often rose in color, the trait that gives the species its name, but they may also be white, yellowish, or brownish. The species is

dioecious Dioecy (; ; adj. dioecious , ) is a characteristic of a species, meaning that it has distinct individual organisms (unisexual) that produce male or female gametes, either directly (in animals) or indirectly (in seed plants). Dioecious reproductio ...

, but since most of the individuals are female, most bear flower heads containing

pistillate Gynoecium (; ) is most commonly used as a collective term for the parts of a flower that produce ovules and ultimately develop into the fruit and seeds. The gynoecium is the innermost whorl of a flower; it consists of (one or more) ''pistils'' ...

flowers. The fruit is an

achene An achene (; ), also sometimes called akene and occasionally achenium or achenocarp, is a type of simple dry fruit produced by many species of flowering plants. Achenes are monocarpellate (formed from one carpel) and indehiscent (they do not ope ...

with a body less than 2 millimeters long and a pappus which may be 6 or 7 mm long. The plant often produces fertile seeds, but most individuals in most populations are clones.Bayer, R. J. (1990) Patterns of clonal diversity in the ''Antennaria rosea'' (Asteraceae) polyploid agamic complex. ''American Journal of Botany'' 77:10 1313-19. Plants are sometimes fertilized with

pollen Pollen is a powdery substance produced by seed plants. It consists of pollen grains (highly reduced microgametophytes), which produce male gametes (sperm cells). Pollen grains have a hard coat made of sporopollenin that protects the gametophyt ...

from other ''Antennaria'' species, which may bring new genes into an ''A. rosea'' population, increasing the

genetic diversity Genetic diversity is the total number of genetic characteristics in the genetic makeup of a species, it ranges widely from the number of species to differences within species and can be attributed to the span of survival for a species. It is dis ...

amongst the clones.Flora of North America, Antennaria rosea
/ref> In the UK ''Antennaria rosea'' has gained the

Royal Horticultural Society The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), founded in 1804 as the Horticultural Society of London, is the UK's leading gardening charity. The RHS promotes horticulture through its five gardens at Wisley (Surrey), Hyde Hall (Essex), Harlow Carr (Nort ...

Award of Garden Merit The Award of Garden Merit (AGM) is a long-established annual award for plants by the British Royal Horticultural Society (RHS). It is based on assessment of the plants' performance under UK growing conditions. History The Award of Garden Merit ...

. ;Subspecies *''Antennaria rosea'' subsp. ''arida'' (E.E.Nelson) R.J.Bayer *''Antennaria rosea'' subsp. ''confinis'' (Greene) R.J.Bayer *''Antennaria rosea'' subsp. ''pulvinata'' (Greene) R.J.Bayer *''Antennaria rosea'' subsp. ''rosea''

References

External links

*
Jepson Manual TreatmentUnited States Department of Agriculture Plants ProfileCalphotos Photo gallery, University of CaliforniaCalflora taxon report, University of California, ''Antennaria rosea'' E. Greene Rosy everlasting, rose pussytoes, rosy pussytoes Dave's GardenTurner Photographics Wildflowers of the Pacific NorthwestNational Park Service, United States Department of the Interior, Native Plant Network, Glacier National Park, ''Antennaria rosea'' Greene
{{Taxonbar, from=Q4771277 rosea Plants described in 1898 Flora of Northern America Flora of Subarctic America Flora of Alaska Flora of the Aleutian Islands Flora of Greenland Flora of the Northwest Territories Flora of Yukon Flora of Canada Flora of Eastern Canada Flora of Labrador Flora of Newfoundland Flora of Ontario Flora of Quebec Flora of Western Canada Flora of Alberta Flora of British Columbia Flora of Manitoba Flora of Saskatchewan Flora of the United States Flora of the North-Central United States Flora of Minnesota Flora of North Dakota Flora of the Northeastern United States Flora of Michigan Flora of the Northwestern United States Flora of Colorado Flora of Idaho Flora of Montana Flora of Oregon Flora of Washington (state) Flora of Wyoming Flora of the Southwestern United States Flora of Arizona Flora of California Flora of Nevada Flora of Utah Flora of the South-Central United States Flora of New Mexico Flora without expected TNC conservation status