The genus Antennaria Gaertner
Remark
The words or terms in red
(actually dark orange) in the text are defined in a
glossary.
The genus Antennaria
belongs to the Asteraceae
family.
Antennaria spp.
are unusual in that they are
dioecious,
the male flowers being much rarer than the female ones;
some species
have no male flowers at all.
The species reproduce then essentially by
parthenogenesis,
i.e. the seeds are produced by mitosis
rather than by meiosis,
making then exact genetic copies.
Taxonomy of the
genus
is difficult and therefore no unanimity of opinion
exists with respect to the most suitable taxonomic treatment.
Apomixis
in the genus led to the formation of many
distinct polyploid races or
clones,
many of which were named as species by turn of the 20th century,
to the middle of the 20th century taxonomists.
Unfortunately, many of these species were based
on single collections from local populations
that have never been recollected.
Most recent workers on the genus have adopted a more conservative
classification for this group.
Antennaria probably comprises 25 to 30 sexual
diploid species and several large
polyploid agamic
complexes derived from them.
Taxonomic differences are presumably due to the occurrence of
polyploidy,
apomixis
and hybridization.
In North America it has been suggested that Antennaria is comprised
of six large polyploid
complexes,
namely:
- Antennaria howellii
- Antennaria parlinii
- Antennaria alpina
- Antennaria media
- Antennaria parvifolia
- Antennaria rosea
the first two found mostly in eastern North America, the other four found
mainly in western or arctic North America.
As far as Québec is concerned many botanists list the following species and
subspecies
as belonging to the flora of the province:
- Antennaria alpina
- Antennaria frieseana with the subspecies:
- Antennaria frieseana subsp. frieseana
- Antennaria howellii with the subspecies:
- Antennaria howellii subsp. canadensis
- Antennaria howellii subsp. neodioica
- Antennaria howellii subsp. petaloidea
- Antennaria microphylla
- Antennaria monocephala with the subspecies:
- Antennaria monocephala subsp. angustata
- Antennaria neglecta
- Antennaria parlinii with the subspecies:
- Antennaria parlinii subsp. fallax
- Antennaria parlinii subsp. parlinii
- Antennaria pulcherrima with the subspecies:
- Antennaria pulcherrima subsp. eucosma
- Antennaria pulcherrima subsp. pulcherrima
- Antennaria rosea with the subspecies:
- Antennaria rosea subsp. arida
- Antennaria rosea subsp. confinis
- Antennaria rosea subsp. pulvinata
For the time being then,
these pages will then not attempt to go to the species level.
What is presented below is a general description of the genus,
that should apply to most species.
As for the photographs, they are used as an illustrations
and no attempt was made to determine the species of the
photographed plants presented in this page.
Name
In Latin, antenna or antemna is a yard, a long spar,
supported more or less at its center, to which the head of a sail
(of a sailing boat) is bent.
By analogy it became antenna, a metallic apparatus for sending or
receiving electromagnetic waves, a radio antenna. a TV antenna, etc; in zoology,
an antenna is “one of the paired, flexible, segmented sensory appendages
on the head of an insect, myriapod, or crustacean
functioning primarily as an organ of touch„.
The genus name is then said to refer to the projecting stamens seen on some
flowers that resemble insect antennae.
Common names
The genus common
vernacular name is
Pussytoes and some of the
epithet for the
species are :
Pearly, Silver, Denseleaf, Littleleaf, Small-leaf, Showy, Narrowleaf,
etc.
Description
Antennaria are
perennial herbaceous plants
that can reach 16 inches in height.
Stems
- From a few inches to 16 inches high.
- Have small leaflets.
Leaves
- The plants always have basal
leaves and often stem leaves.
- Generally ovate.
- Often fuzzy especially on the underside.
- With usually a small pointed tip to the otherwise
entire leaf.
Flowers
- In tight terminal clusters.
- Small tubular flowers with parts not discernable with the naked eye.
- White.
Distribution
Throughout the cold temperate and arctic regions of the northern
hemisphere.
Especially common in the alpine zones of North America and Europe.
Remarks
These plants have been used historically for coughs, colds,
pulmonary inflammations, dysentery, bruises, as a post childbirth tonic
for mothers, and of course to treat snakebite.
There is no scientific evidence that it is effective for treating
any of these conditions.
Gallery
The photos of the gallery were taken either with one of the following:
- Fuji Mx 700.
- Minolta DiMAGE 7.
- Nikon 2200.
- EPSON Perfection 1650 scanner.
The title in the window shows the date when the picture was taken,
i.e. jan_30_06... would mean that the photo was taken on the 30th of
January, the 06 is for the 6th picture taken that day.
The month, day and picture number might be followed by a letter:
- f for the Fuji.
- n for the Nikon.
- s for the EPSON scanner.
and if there is no letter it's obviously the Minolta.
Click on the thumbnails to get larger view.
The original photos are usually in TIFF format,
the photos shown are generally in JPEG format,
usually of dimension one half (surface one quarter)
for loading time reduction.
Early spring
Autumn
Flower heads
Fructification
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