(pygmy pussytoes)
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Photo of Antennaria monocephala by Jacob Frank
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Antennaria monocephala is a small alpine plant of tundra, lush meadows and snowbeds with gray-green leaves and single flower head (hence the species name 'mono' and 'cephala' meaning head). Plants of
A. monocephala are loosely cushion-forming, growing from a slender, branching
rhizome with
stolons. Plants grow 5-13 cm high. The
basal rosette has leaves that are
spatulate or narrowly
oblanceolate, 9-18 mm long, upper side green-hairless or occasionally lightly pubescent, with the underside densely covered in hairs. The coloring of the stem leaves is similar, but they are alternately arranged,
linear and with
scarious brown tips. The flower heads are solitary (sometimes 2-3) on a flowering stalk, with one or several stalks per plant. The heads are
subtended by several layers of dark,
scarious-margined
bracts, narrow and just shorter than the flowers. The flowers are surrounded by long, white hair-like
pappus (modified
sepals), eclipsing the smaller petals and giving the flower its distinctive fuzzy look. When produced, fruits are single-seeded
capsules with long
pappus hairs attached, but the species primarily spreads vegetatively.
Antennaria monocephala is the only member of the genus in Denali with a single head per stem.
Antennaria monocephala is perennial with evergreen leaves. It flowers mid-summer, fruiting in the fall.
The genus
Antennaria is
dioecious, meaning plants have either all male or all female flowers. Additionally, in
A. monocephala, there are both sexual (subsp.
monocephala) and asexual (subsp.
angustata) populations. The asexual populations have only female flowers, which can set seed without pollination and reproduce clonally (
apomixis). Flowers are pollinated by many different insects. Fruits are
capsules with long
pappus hairs attached, wind-dispersed.
Antennaria monocephalais an amphi-Beringian arctic-alpine species that occurs across arctic Canada to Greenland and reaches its southern limit in isolated stations in the mountains of Wyoming. In Alaska, Antennaria monocephala occurs across a wide swath of the state, including localities on North Slope, Seward Peninsula, Bering Sea Islands, and in southwest from Bristol Bay and Kodiak to Unimak Island In Denali, Antennaria monocephala occurs in subalpine and alpine hills and mountains on both sides of the Alaska Range crest.
Details are shown in the Plots & Charts found at right, depicting recent Denali data.
This species grows at a fairly wide range of elevations (498 to 1787 m), but is most frequent above 1100 m. This species frequency increases with higher slopes, most common on inclines above 20 degrees. In terms of aspect, it is more likely to be found on north or west-facing aspects, but does occur on southern aspects.
Details are shown in the Plots & Charts found at right. For more on how to interpret these figures, visit Understanding Data Presented.
This species is found on both wet and dry soils.
Moist tundra and meadows.
