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Field pussytoes flowerheads are either pistillate (female) or staminate (male), both about 8 mm long, both looking like a compact tuft of white hairs. The very similar plantain-leafed pussytoes (A. plantaginifolia) looks much the same but has basal leaves with three main veins (best viewed from the underside) rather than one.

Antennaria

Antennaria neglecta

field pussytoes [Blooms: Apr-May]

Male and female flowers of Parlin's pussytoes occur on separate plants as clusters of 4-12+ flowerheads on a stalk; colonies of male plants are often well separated from colonies of female plants. (Colonies form from extensive, horizontal stolons that arch upward at their tips.) Female flowerheads are 1/3-3/4" long and look like miniature shaving brushes — the reddish or purple-tinged thread-like styles protrude from the top of the flowerhead. Each flowerhead is surrounded by bracts (phyllaries) that are green and leaf-like at their base, thinning to a translucent white, petal-like tip. Individual florets are 4-7 mm long (up to about 1/4"); the phyllaries are 7-13 mm long (up to 1/2"). Male flowerheads are less furry than the female flowerheads, consisting of scaly, white male florets 3.5-5 mm long with a brown column of stamens protruding from the center of each floret. The phyllaries on the male flowerheads are 6-9 mm long. The fruits are 1-2 mm long brown seeds with a tuft of 5-8 mm long white hairs to help loft them into the wind. Parlin's pussytoes is one of the host plants for the larvae of the American painted lady butterfly (Vanessa virginiensis). Some reproductively isolated populations (2N chromosome numbers of 56, 70, 84, and 112 all exist in the wild) apparently lack male plants altogether and reproduce by gynoecy (like several cultivated vegetables). Missouri Wildflowers seems to deny that A. plantaginifolia is a distinct species from A. parlinii, but both Antennaria plantaginifolia and Antennaria parlinii are recognized by ITIS.gov and the USDA Plants database. Note that both Parlin's pussytoes and plantain-leafed pussytoes have at least three veins on the basal leaves so may be easily confused in the field. The basal leaves of plantain-leafed pussytoes are often hairier than those of Parlin's pussytoes, which are thus greener, but the best way to distinguish the two species is by the larger size of the flowers and seeds of Parlin's pussytoes.

Antennaria

Antennaria parlinii

Parlin's pussytoes [Blooms: Apr]

Plantain-leafed pussytoes is a short (6" tall) plant. The basal leaves are 2" wide and 3.5" long, spoon-shaped with long petioles, grayish green, with 3-5 conspicuous main veins; the lower surface is densely covered with appressed hairs and is shiny white. Individual plantain-leafed pussytoe plants bear either male or female flowers exclusively. Flowerheads are short (<1/2" long) and composed exclusively of white disc florets surrounded by a layer of phyllaries; female florets are fluffy white from the profusion of styles (looking a bit like Q-Tips) while male florets show tubular, brownish anthers. Asexual reproduction may produce colonies of exclusively male or female plants. The similar field pussytoes has basal leaves with only a single (rather than 3-5) main veins.

Antennaria

Antennaria plantaginifolia

plaintain-leafed pussytoes [Blooms: Apr-May]