• You are here:
• Simple Key
• All other flowering non-woody plants
• Daisies, goldenrods, and other aster family plants
• Antennaria plantaginifolia

Antennaria plantaginifolia — plantain-leaved pussytoes

Facts

Plantain-leaved pussytoes, as the name suggests, has basal leaves that loosely resemble the leaves of plantain. The white, fuzzy, tightly packed flower heads can look like the pads of a cat's paw.

Habitat

Anthropogenic (man-made or disturbed habitats), cliffs, balds, or ledges, meadows and fields, woodlands

Characteristics

• Flowers

  Bases of bract appendages

  NA

  Bract cycle number

  there are three or more cycles of bracts

  Bracts

  there are at least two distinct forms of bracts in different cycles

  Disk flower lobe number

  5

  Disk flower reproductive parts

  the disk flower has either only pollen- or only seed-producing parts

  Flower head number

  each flowering stem has four or more flower heads on it

  Flower head outer flowers

  at the outer edge of the flower head, the flowers have no enlarged lobe or strap, and are of similar size as those in the center of the disk

  Flower head platform

  the base has no bristles or papery scales

  Flower head platform surface

  NA

  Flower type in flower heads

  the flower head has disk flowers only, and lacks the strap-shaped flowers

  Height of flower head base

  5–8 mm

  Inflorescence branching (Solidago)

  NA

  Inflorescence shape

  the inflorescence is flat-topped in profile

  Ovary attachment

  the ovary is attached at or near the base

  Ovary beak

  there is no beak on the ovary

  Ovary cross-section

  the ovary has five or more corners in cross-section

  Ovary hair type

  the ovary has no hairs on it

  Ovary hairs

  the ovary has no hairs on it

  Ovary profile

  in profile, the ovary is oblong (roughly rectangular but rounded at the ends)

  Ovary surface

  the ovary surface is textured with tiny points, bumps or wrinkles

  Ray flower color

  NA

  Ray flower reproductive parts

  NA

  Ray flowers

  0

  Ray length

  0 mm

  Reproductive system

  all the flowers on some plants have carpels, while all the flowers on other plants have stamens

  Scale tip

  NA

  Smaller bracts at base of bracts

  there is no smaller, outer cycle of bracts

• Fruits or seeds

  Ovary beak length

  0 mm

  Ovary length in developed fruit

  1–1.5 mm

  Seed hair tuft bases

  the pappus hairs are attached to one another near the base

  Seed hair tuft details

  the pappus hairs are smooth and plain

  Seed hair tuft length

  4–5.5 mm

  Seed hair tuft tips

  the pappus hairs are slender

  Seed hairs uniform

  all the pappus hairs are approximately the same length

  Seed tuft scale number

  0

  Seed tuft type

  the pappus is made of very fine hairs or bristles

  Top of disk flower ovary

  NA

  Tuft or plume on fruit

  at least a part of the plume is made up of fine bristles

• Glands or sap

  Leaf blade glands

  the leaf blades have no glandular (translucent) dots or scales

  Sap

  the sap is clear and watery

• Growth form

  Growth form

  the plant has one or more free-standing stems

  Horizontal rooting stem

  there are stolons on some plants

  Plant lifespan

  the plant is perennial, it shows evidence of previous year's leaves, stems or stem bases

  Spines on plant

  the plant has no spines

  Underground organs

  there are only slender roots on the plant

• Leaves

  Final leaf segment length (compound lvs only)

  0 mm

  Final leaf segment width (compound lvs only)

  0 mm

  Hairs on underside of leaf blade

  the underside of the leaf is fuzzy or hairy

  Hairs on upper side of leaf blade

  • the upper side of the leaf is fuzzy or hairy
  • the upper side of the leaf is not hairy, or has very few hairs

  Leaf arrangement

  alternate: there is one leaf per node along the stem

  Leaf blade base

  • the leaf has a distinct petiole
  • the leaf has no petiole

  Leaf blade base shape

  the base of the leaf blade is cuneate (wedge-shaped, tapers to the base with relatively straight, converging edges), or narrow

  Leaf blade bloom

  the underside of the leaf has no noticeable bloom

  Leaf blade edges

  the edge of the leaf blade has no teeth or lobes

  Leaf blade hairs

  the leaf blade has tangled or woolly-looking hairs

  Leaf blade length

  6.5–75 mm

  Leaf blade shape

  the leaf blade is obovate (egg-shaped, but with the widest point above the middle of the leaf blade)

  Leaf blade surface colors

  there is no noticeable color variation on the upper surface of the leaf

  Leaf blade veins

  the leaf blade has three main veins running from the base towards the tip

  Leaf blade width

  15–35 mm

  Leaf disposition

  the lower leaves are larger, toothier, and/or on longer stalks than the upper leaves

  Leaf spines

  there are no spines on the leaf edges

  Leaf stalk

  • the leaves have leaf stalks
  • the leaves have no leaf stalks, but attach directly to the stem

  Leaf tip extension

  there is no thin, papery extension of the leaf

  Leaf tufts in axils

  there are no clusters of smaller leaves

  Leaf type

  leaves are simple (i.e., lobed or unlobed but not separated into leaflets)

  Leaflet number

  0

  Specific leaf type

  the leaves are simple (i.e., lobed or unlobed but not separated into leaflets

  Teeth per side of leaf blade

  0

• Place

  Habitat

  terrestrial

  New England state

  • Connecticut
  • Maine
  • Massachusetts
  • New Hampshire
  • Rhode Island
  • Vermont

  Specific habitat

  • cliffs, balds, or ledges
  • man-made or disturbed habitats
  • meadows or fields
  • woodlands

• Scent

  Plant odor

  the plant does not have much of an odor

• Stem, shoot, branch

  Flowering stem cross-section

  the flowering stem is circular, or with lots of small angles

  Leaves on stem

  the flowering stem has no leaves above the base

  Stem bloom

  there is no powdery or waxy film on the stem

  Stem internode hair type

  at least some of the hairs on the stem are tangled, matted or woolly

  Stem internode hairs

  the stem has hairs between the nodes

  Stem wings

  the stem does not have wings on it

Wetland status

Not classified

New England distribution and conservation status

From the dichotomous key of Flora Novae Angliae