FIELD PUSSY-TOES
File Size: 81 KB
 
Antennaria neglecta  Greene
Konza Prairie, Riley County, Kansas
Perennial
Height: 2-12 inches
Family: Asteraceae - Sunflower Family
Flowering Period:   March, April, May
Stems: Flowering stems erect, white-woolly.
Leaves: Mostly basal, simple, stalked, spatulate, 1 to 2.5 inches long, 1/4 to 3/4 inch wide, dark green and nearly glabrous above, white-woolly beneath, 1 main rib; margins entire; tips rounded to pointed; stem leaves alternate, sessile, linear, less than 1/2 inch long, tips often curled.
Inflorescences: Cyme-like clusters, dense to somewhat open, few to many heads, terminal.
Flowers: Male and female flowers on separate plants; female inflorescences sometimes elongate; heads 1/4 to 1/2 inch in diameter; bracts narrow lanceolate, overlapping, brownish, tips whitish; ray florets absent; disk florets white, almost hidden by numerous hair-like bristles; staminate inflorescences with purplish brown anthers that protrude from florets, heads appearing spotted.
Fruits: Achenes, tiny, cylindric, olive-green, tipped with white bristles, enclosing small seed.
Habitat: Dry prairies, pastures, old fields, and open wooded slopes.
Distribution: East 3/4 of Kansas.
Comments: Field pussy-toes forms colonies via long, trailing stolons. A patch is usually composed of either all female or all male flowers. The bristles on the fruits give the plant a fuzzy appearance when mature.
 See also Parlin's pussy-toes

Field pussy-toes leaves
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Konza Prairie, Riley County, Kansas
Field pussy-toes inflorescence
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Konza Prairie, Riley County, Kansas
Field pussy-toes pistillate inflorescence
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Konza Prairie, Riley County, Kansas
Field pussy-toes achene bristles
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Konza Prairie, Riley County, Kansas
Field pussy-toes
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Konza Prairie, Riley County, Kansas
Field pussy-toes staminate inflorescence
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Konza Prairie, Riley County, Kansas
Field pussy-toes staminate flowers
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Konza Prairie, Riley County, Kansas
Field pussy-toes leaves
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Morris County, Kansas
Field pussy-toes staminate heads
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Morris County, Kansas
Field pussy-toes staminate heads
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Morris County, Kansas
Field pussy-toes pistillate heads
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Morris County, Kansas
Field pussy-toes pistillate heads
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Morris County, Kansas
Field pussy-toes
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Marshall County, Kansas
Field pussy-toes staminate flowers
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Clay County, Kansas