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Rosy pussytoes facts for kids

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Rosy pussytoes
Antennaria rosea 6.jpg
Antennaria rosea 01.jpg
Scientific classification
Genus:
Antennaria
Species:
rosea
Synonyms

Antennaria rosea is a North American species of flowering plant in the daisy family known by the common name rosy pussytoes. Other common names include cat's foot and mountain everlasting. It is widespread across much of Canada including all three Arctic territories, as well as Greenland, the western and north-central United States, and the Mexican State of Baja California.

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 and exhibits apomixis; most all the plants are female and they reproduce asexually.

This herbaceous perennial grows to a height of 10 and 40 centimeters. It has a network of short stolons by which it spreads, its method of vegetative reproduction. It forms a basal patch of woolly grayish leaves 1 to 4 centimeters long. The inflorescence contains several flower heads in a cluster. Each head is lined with wide, pointed phyllaries 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, but since most of the individuals are female, most bear flower heads containing pistillate flowers. The fruit is an achene with a body less than 2 millimeters long and a pappus which may be 6 or 7 millimeters long. The plant often produces fertile seeds, but most individuals in most populations are clones. Plants are sometimes fertilized with pollen from other Antennaria species, which may bring new genes into an A. rosea population, increasing the genetic diversity amongst the clones.

In the UK Antennaria rosea has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's 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
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