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.Cody, W. J. 1996. Flora of the Yukon Territory i–xvii, 1–669. NRC Research Press, Ottawa.Moss, E. H. 1983. Flora of Alberta (ed. 2) i–xii, 1–687. University of Toronto Press, Toronto.

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. It is a cushion plant, a compact, low-growing, mat-forming plant, with a dense taproot that forms annual growth rings.

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.

Each stem is topped with two to seven flowering heads. They have somewhat black bracts. Both the plants in North America and Scandinavia are mostly gynoecious, having almost all seed producing flowers and rarely producing flowers with pollen. It is an apomict, a species that will produce seeds asexually that are genetically identical to the parent. 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.

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

Table of Synonyms Name Year Rank Notes Antennaria alpina var. cana 1911 variety = het. Antennaria alpina subsp. canescens 1998 subspecies = het. Antennaria alpina var. canescens 1869 variety = het. Antennaria alpina var. compacta 1968 variety = het. Antennaria alpina var. glabrata 1869 variety = het. Antennaria alpina var. intermedia 1891 variety = het. Antennaria alpina f. latifolia 1927 form = het. Antennaria alpina var. ramosissima 1887 variety = het. Antennaria alpina var. stolonifera 1968 variety = het. Antennaria alpina var. typica 1924 variety = het., not validly publ. Antennaria alpina var. ungavensis 1916 variety = het. Antennaria arenicola 1934 species = het. Antennaria atriceps 1934 species = het. Antennaria bayardii 1933 species = het. Antennaria borealis 1899 species = het. Antennaria brunnescens 1933 species = het. Antennaria cana 1916 species = het. Antennaria canescens f. fastigiata 1963 form = het. Antennaria canescens var. pseudoporsildii 1963 variety = het. Antennaria columnaris 1933 species = het. Antennaria compacta 1934 species = het. Antennaria confusa 1933 species = het. Antennaria crymophila 1943 species = het. Antennaria foggii 1933 species = het. Antennaria friesiana subsp. compacta 1968 subspecies = het. Antennaria glabrata 1898 species = het. Antennaria glabrata f. ramosa 1926 form = het. Antennaria intermedia 1914 species = het. Antennaria labradorica 1841 species = het. Antennaria lapponica 1950 species = het. Antennaria longii 1927 species = het. Antennaria media subsp. compacta 1997 subspecies = het. Antennaria pallida 1901 species = het. Antennaria pedunculata 1950 species = het. Antennaria porsildii f. roseola 1927 form = het. Antennaria stolonifera 1950 species = het. Antennaria ungavensis 1934 species = het. Antennaria vexillifera 1924 species = het. Antennaria wiegandii 1927 species = het. Chamaezelum alpinum 1829 species = het. Gnaphalium alpinum 1753 species ≡ hom. Gnaphalium alpinum var. elatius 1829 variety = het. Gnaphalium dioicum var. alpicola 1820 variety = het. Gnaphalium monanthon 1838 species = het. Gnaphalium uniflorum 1838 species = het., not validly publ. Silene venosa proles maritima 1911 proles = het. Silene venosa subsp. alpina 1877 subspecies = het. Silene venosa var. maritima 1914 variety = het. Silene vulgaris subsp. alpina 1878 subspecies = het. Silene vulgaris subsp. cratericola 1971 subspecies = het. Silene vulgaris subsp. maritima 1961 subspecies = het. Silene vulgaris subsp. thorei 1964 subspecies = het. Silene willdenowii 1949 species = het. Viscago maritima 1796 species = het. Wahlbergella uniflora 1843 species = het. Notes: ≡ homotypic synonym; = heterotypic synonym

Names Antennaria alpina is known by the common names alpine pussytoes, alpine catsfoot, or alpine everlasting.

Range and habitat Alpine pussytoes are limited to alpine and boreal habitats. In Europe it is native to Norway, Sweden, Finland, and northern parts of European Russia. It grows in the mountains of Sweden and Norway in the south and towards the North Sea coast further to the north. 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.

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. The Natural Resources Conservation Service database only records it in six scattered counties in Montana. 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. It grows at elevations between 100 and 2400 meters.

It grows in dry to moist tundra and alpine tundra.

References

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