Antennaria alpina

Antennaria alpina
Conservation status
Secure  (NatureServe) [1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Eudicots
Clade:	Asterids
Order:	Asterales
Family:	Asteraceae
Genus:	Antennaria
Species:	A. alpina
Binomial name
Antennaria alpina (L.) Gaertn.
Synonyms [2]
Gnaphalium alpinum

Antennaria alpina (alpine pussytoes, alpine catsfoot, or alpine everlasting) is a European and North American species of plant in the family Asteraceae. Antennaria alpina is native to mountainous and subarctic regions of Scandinavia, Greenland, Alaska, and the Canadian Arctic, extending south at high altitudes in mountains in the Rocky Mountains south to Montana and Wyoming. ^{[3] [4]}

Description

Antennaria alpina is a perennial, herbaceous plant growing 3 to 18 centimeters tall. The plant spreads by means of stolons that reach between 1 and 7 cm in length. ^[5] It is a cushion plant, a compact, low-growing, mat-forming plant, with a dense taproot that forms annual growth rings. ^[6]

The basal leaves, those attached to the base of the plant, have one prominent vein and are spatulate to oblanceolate in shape, with a length of 6 to 25 millimeters and a width of 2 to 7 mm. The surface of the leaves are green and nearly hairless to gray in color with many hairs, but the undersides are tomentose, white due to a thick covering of woolly hairs. The leaves attached to the stems are even smaller, and narrow like a blade of grass, just 5 to 20 mm long. ^[5]

Each stem is topped with two to seven flowering heads. ^{[5] [7]} They have somewhat black bracts. ^[7] Both the plants in North America and Scandinavia are mostly gynoecious, having almost all seed producing flowers and rarely producing flowers with pollen. ^{[5] [8]} It is an apomict, a species that will produce seeds asexually that are genetically identical to the parent. ^[9] The involucre, the base under a flowering head, is 5–6.5 mm and 4–10 mm for a seed producing flower. They bloom in mid to late summer. ^[5]

Taxonomy

In 1753 Carl Linnaeus described a species he named Gnaphalium alpinum. ^[2] This was moved to Antennaria by Joseph Gaertner, a new genus he created in 1791, ^[10] to give the species its accepted name. ^[2] It is further classified in the large family Asteraceae. According to Plants of the World Online, Antennaria alpina has 55 synonyms. ^[2]

Table of Synonyms

Name	Year	Rank	Notes
Antennaria alpina var. canaFernald & Wiegand	1911	variety	= het.
Antennaria alpina subsp. canescens(Lange) Chmiel.	1998	subspecies	= het.
Antennaria alpina var. canescensLange	1869	variety	= het.
Antennaria alpina var. compacta(Malte) S.L.Welsh	1968	variety	= het.
Antennaria alpina var. glabrataJ.Vahl	1869	variety	= het.
Antennaria alpina var. intermediaRosenv.	1891	variety	= het.
Antennaria alpina f. latifoliaEkman	1927	form	= het.
Antennaria alpina var. ramosissimaLange	1887	variety	= het.
Antennaria alpina var. stolonifera(A.E.Porsild) S.L.Welsh	1968	variety	= het.
Antennaria alpina var. typicaFernald	1924	variety	= het., not validly publ.
Antennaria alpina var. ungavensisFernald	1916	variety	= het.
Antennaria arenicolaMalte	1934	species	= het.
Antennaria atricepsFernald ex Raup	1934	species	= het.
Antennaria bayardiiFernald	1933	species	= het.
Antennaria borealisGreene	1899	species	= het.
Antennaria brunnescensFernald	1933	species	= het.
Antennaria canaFernald	1916	species	= het.
Antennaria canescens f. fastigiataBöcher	1963	form	= het.
Antennaria canescens var. pseudoporsildiiBöcher	1963	variety	= het.
Antennaria columnarisFernald	1933	species	= het.
Antennaria compactaMalte	1934	species	= het.
Antennaria confusaFernald	1933	species	= het.
Antennaria crymophilaA.E.Porsild	1943	species	= het.
Antennaria foggiiFernald	1933	species	= het.
Antennaria friesiana subsp. compacta(Malte) Hultén	1968	subspecies	= het.
Antennaria glabrataGreene	1898	species	= het.
Antennaria glabrata f. ramosaA.E.Porsild	1926	form	= het.
Antennaria intermedia(Rosenv.) Porsild	1914	species	= het.
Antennaria labradoricaNutt.	1841	species	= het.
Antennaria lapponicaSelander	1950	species	= het.
Antennaria longiiFernald	1927	species	= het.
Antennaria media subsp. compacta(Malte) Chmiel.	1997	subspecies	= het.
Antennaria pallidaE.E.Nelson	1901	species	= het.
Antennaria pedunculataA.E.Porsild	1950	species	= het.
Antennaria porsildii f. roseolaEkman	1927	form	= het.
Antennaria stoloniferaA.E.Porsild	1950	species	= het.
Antennaria ungavensisMalte	1934	species	= het.
Antennaria vexilliferaFernald	1924	species	= het.
Antennaria wiegandiiFernald	1927	species	= het.
Chamaezelum alpinumLink	1829	species	= het.
Gnaphalium alpinumL.	1753	species	≡ hom.
Gnaphalium alpinum var. elatiusGaudin	1829	variety	= het.
Gnaphalium dioicum var. alpicolaHartm.	1820	variety	= het.
Gnaphalium monanthonWilld. ex DC.	1838	species	= het.
Gnaphalium uniflorumPall. ex DC.	1838	species	= het., not validly publ.
Silene venosa proles maritima(With.) Samp.	1911	proles	= het.
Silene venosa subsp. alpina(Lam.) Simonk.	1877	subspecies	= het.
Silene venosa var. maritima(With.) Menezes	1914	variety	= het.
Silene vulgaris subsp. alpina(Lam.) Nyman	1878	subspecies	= het.
Silene vulgaris subsp. cratericolaFranco	1971	subspecies	= het.
Silene vulgaris subsp. maritima(With.) Á.Löve & D.Löve	1961	subspecies	= het.
Silene vulgaris subsp. thorei(Dufour) Chater & Walters	1964	subspecies	= het.
Silene willdenowiiSweet ex O.Schwarz	1949	species	= het.
Viscago maritimaWith.	1796	species	= het.
Wahlbergella uniflora(Roth) Fr.	1843	species	= het.
Notes: ≡ homotypic synonym  ; = heterotypic synonym

Names

Antennaria alpina is know by the common names alpine pussytoes, ^[11] alpine catsfoot, ^[7] or alpine everlasting. ^[12]

Range and habitat

Alpine pussytoes are limited to alpine and boreal habitats. ^[9] In Europe it is native to Norway, Sweden, Finland, and northern parts of European Russia. ^[2] It grows in the mountains of Sweden and Norway in the south and towards the North Sea coast further to the north. ^[13] In Asia it grows in the botanical area of the Magadan Oblast which also includes the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug at the far eastern tip of Russia. ^[2]

In North America it is found in Alaska and the three nortnern territories of Canda. Further south it grows in both Alberta and British Columbia in the west and parts of Ontario, Québec, Labrador, and Newfoundland in the east. In the contiguious US it only grows in Montana and Wyoming. ^[2] The Natural Resources Conservation Service database only records it in six scattered counties in Montana. ^[11] On Greenland it is a common plant found as far north at 75°23' N in the west and to 74°50' N in the east. ^[7] It grows at elevations between 100 and 2400 meters. ^[5]

It grows in dry to moist tundra and alpine tundra. ^[5]

References

1. "NatureServe Explorer - Antennaria alpina". NatureServe Explorer Antennaria alpina. NatureServe. 2022-06-22. Retrieved 22 Jun 2022.
2. POWO. "Antennaria alpina (L.) Gaertn". Plants of the World Online . Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew . Retrieved 19 June 2025.
3. Cody, W. J. 1996. Flora of the Yukon Territory i–xvii, 1–669. NRC Research Press, Ottawa.
4. Moss, E. H. 1983. Flora of Alberta (ed. 2) i–xii, 1–687. University of Toronto Press, Toronto.
5. Bayer, Randall J. (5 November 2020) [In print 2006]. "Antennaria alpina". Flora of North America . p. 414. ISBN   978-0-19-530563-0. OCLC   179887026. Archived from the original on 8 July 2024. Retrieved 19 June 2025.
6. Schweingruber, Fritz H.; Börner, Annett (2018). The Plant Stem: A Microscopic Aspect (1st ed.). Cham, Germany: Springer. p. 115. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-73524-5. ISBN   978-3-319-73524-5 . Retrieved 20 June 2025.
7. Rune, Flemming (2011). Wild Flowers of Greenland = Grønlands Vilde Planter (in English and Danish) (first ed.). Hillerød, Denmark ; Qeqertarsuaq, Greenland: Gyldenlund Publishing, in collaboration with Arctic Station, University of Copenhagen. p. 288. ISBN   978-87-993172-5-7. OCLC   794007591 . Retrieved 19 June 2025.
8. Gibbons, Bob (2007). Philip's Wild Flowers of Britain and Northern Europe . London: Philip's. p. 258. ISBN   978-0-540-08982-6. OCLC   84150936 . Retrieved 19 June 2025.
9. Dahl, Eilif (1998). The Phytogeography of Northern Europe : British Isles, Fennoscandia, and Adjacent Areas . Cambridge ; New York: Cambridge University Press. p. 236. ISBN   978-0-521-38358-5. OCLC   36045920 . Retrieved 19 June 2025.
10. "Antennaria Gaertn". Plants of the World Online . Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew . Retrieved 19 June 2025.
11. NRCS. "Antennaria alpina". PLANTS Database. United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Retrieved 6 September 2016.
12. TWC Staff (2 March 2023). "Plant Database: Antennaria alpina". Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. University of Texas at Austin. Retrieved 19 June 2025.
13. Fitter, Alastair (1978). An Atlas of the Wild Flowers of Britain and Northern Europe . London: Collins. p. 197. ISBN   978-0-00-219181-4. OCLC   4078338 . Retrieved 19 June 2025.

External links

• Den virtuaella floran, Naturhistoriska riksmuseet, Stockholm, Fjällkattfot Antennaria alpina (L.) Gaertn. in Swedish with photos
• Nordaflora, Fjellkattefot Antennaria alpina (L.) Gaertn. in Swedish with photos
• Ian McLaren;s Arctic Flowers, Antennaria alpina
• Turner Photographics, Wildflowers of the Pacific Northwest, Antennaria alpina
• Electronic Atlas of the Flora of British Columbia, Antennaria alpina