W16 



ROSE PUSSYTOES 



Antenna'ria ro'sea, syns. A. imbrica'ta, A. dioi'ca ro'sea 



Flower heads small, about }( to K in. 

 high, usually about 5 to 10, in rather 

 dense terminal clusters; flowers small, 

 inconspicuous, of 2 kinds: male and 

 female, borne on separate plants 



Bracts in a several-rowed series 

 around flower head, relatively large, 

 dry, thin-papery, persistent, usually 

 with pinkish or rose-colored tips, the 

 outer ones woolly-hairy on the lower half 



"Seeds" (achenes) small, crowned by 

 numerous white bristles (pappus) which 

 are united at the base and fall together 



Stems slender, unbranched, 2 to 16 

 in. high, densely woolly-hairy, producing 

 short, leafy, sterile, rooting, tuft-form- 

 ing suckers at base 



Leaves alternate, narrowly reverse 

 lance-shaped, pointed, densely white- 

 wooUy-hairy ; those of the sterile shoots 

 numerous, forming rosettes 



Roots perennial, with short rootstocks 



Rose pussytoes is a woolly perennial which often forms mats or tufts of con- 

 siderable size. It ranges from Alaska to California, New Mexico, and South 

 Dakota, extending fvom the plains upward to the spruce belt. It typically 

 occurs in grass types of parks and meadows and on hillsides and benches in 

 from dry to moderately moist soils. Normally, rose pussytoes is not abundant 

 but, on ranges where the plant cover has been materially reduced as a result of 

 excessive grazing, this species may form an appreciable part of the vegetation. 



The flowers of rose pussytoes are cropped by sheep, but otherwise the species 

 is practically worthless as forage. The plants are able to withstand consider- 

 able trampling and reproduce vegetatively both by rootstocks and rooting stems 

 (stolons) and, since they ae not weakened by excessive cropping, tend to in- 

 crease on overgrazed ranges. 



