BOTANICAL AND ECOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS
SPECIES: Antennaria microphylla | Rosy Pussytoes 



GENERAL BOTANICAL CHARACTERISTICS : 
Rosy pussytoes is a stoloniferous, mat-forming, perennial forb.  Stems
are generally 1.6 to 12 inches (4-30 cm) tall.  Leaves are spoon-shaped
or narrowly oblong and simple, alternate, and mostly basal.  Cauline
leaves are reduced upwards.  The inflorescence is a congested to open
cyme with 2 to 13 heads.  The fruit is an achene 0.03 to 0.05 inch
(0.08-0.12 cm) long [12,16,28].  Stolons are usually 0.4 to 2 inches
(1-5 cm) long [1].


RAUNKIAER LIFE FORM : 
   Hemicryptophyte


REGENERATION PROCESSES : 
Rosy pussytoes reproduces from seed or spreads vegetatively through
stolons.  Seeds are light and wind dispersed.  They are generally
not stored in soil seedbanks [22].  Rosy pussytoes is dioecious [1,16].


SITE CHARACTERISTICS : 
Rosy pussytoes is found in dry, open habitats including plains, hills,
open woods, and dry meadows [9,12,13].  It is found at elevations
of 6,000 to 11,400 feet (1,830-3,450 m) in Utah and 5,000 to 11,000 feet
(1,500-3,300 m) in Colorado [13,28].  In west-central Montana, rosy
pussytoes is found from the valley floor to alpine zones [16].


SUCCESSIONAL STATUS : 
Facultative Seral Species

Rosy pussytoes is found in disturbed areas as well as stable climax
communities.  It was present on thin mud and tephra in the first 2 years
following the volcanic eruption of Mount St. Helens in Washington [29].
It invades heavily grazed sagebrush-grassland communities in Nevada
[25].  In central Idaho rosy pussytoes is a major early seral species in
subalpine fir (Abies lasiocarpa)/beargrass (Xerophyllum tenax) habitat
types [21] and a prominent mid-seral species in Douglas-fir/pinegrass
habitat types, where it persists beneath a partial canopy [22].  It also
occurs in seral and climax trembling aspen communities in Utah [18].


SEASONAL DEVELOPMENT : 
Rosy pussytoes flowers from the end of May to July [5,12].

Related categories for Species: Antennaria microphylla | Rosy Pussytoes