Antennaria

[cohan]

This one was from Hilda Ridge- below the treeline, but not by much, on an exposed edge of the ridge with no trees nearby...
May 31, 2011, when growth would have just barely, if at all, begun for the season..

[Hoy]

Sorry, I can't help you with names of your Antennarias. Seems you have many more species than wealthough both splitters and lumpers have done a lot with the few we have!

Antennaria alpina is the smallest but not the showiest except the lanate leaves (is lanate the correct term?). It flowers sparsely with white flowers.

       

[RickR]

You said it Cohan, about identifying low elevation Antennaria (at least)!  Years ago I just through my hands up trying to ID with confidence which of the two possible species grew in the area where I grew up.  I should revisit it again, especially with the FNA(Flora of North America) available online...

Lori, your first two pics might be the same species, but taken at different times or elevations?  The "rhombic" crinkling of the leaves is sure attractive!

[Lori S.]

Lori, your first two pics might be the same species, but taken at different times or elevations?  The "rhombic" crinkling of the leaves is sure attractive!

I'm not sure... in these close-ups of the two plants, sometimes I think they are the same and sometimes I think they are different, and I am not familiar enough with Antennaria to be certain if they are the same species or not.
The photos were taken a week apart in mid-August last year, and the plants were growing at roughly similar elevations - the first at about ~2200m (drier conditions on a windy ridge that doesn't generally hold snow) and the second at about ~2600m elevation (much more snowfall here, generally moister conditions, with a few snowbanks persisting into mid-August):
 

[McDonough]

Lori, love the "rhombic" foliage shape on the alpine pussytoes, I agree with Cliff, worth growing for the foliage alone.

I took a photographic cruise around the genus Antennaria in two of my favorite web sites, but don't see any that look quite like the flat crinkly mats you show us Lori. 

e-Flora of BC
On homepage, do a quick search on scientific name: Antennaria

Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture
Browse by genera, select Antennaria:
http://biology.burke.washington.edu/herbarium/imagecollection.php

Cohan, both of your links to the Saskatchewan's Wildflowers show excellent portraits of A. anaphaloides and A. pulcherrima. I must say,  A. pulcherrima is an elegant species.  I just lost an hour somehow, looking at just a few of the many photos on the "Sasakatchewan Native Plants / Wildflowers" site, quality photographs, showing plant scale and diagnostic plant features, I have bookmarked this site.
http://em.ca/garden/native/nat_photos.html

Looking through the site I ask myself, why haven't we heard of some of these exceptional plants; take a look at a few:

Erigeron radicatus:
http://em.ca/garden/native/nat_Erigeron%20radicatus.html

Chrysopsis villosa:
http://em.ca/garden/native/nat_Chrysopsis%20villosa.html

I have some Antennaria pics to post, but it is "tax weekend" for me, not sure I'll get a chance.

[cohan]

I agree, Mark- the Saskatchewan site is excellent, and has been a great resource for me, since we have a number of wildflowers in common, and their section on garden perennials has been useful as well....

I do really like the 'tall' Antennarias as well, leaves can be quite pretty in fall as well (herbaceous unlike most of the mat formers)..

The Chrysopsis- also known as Heterotheca- villosa is another fave- I've photographed it in the foothills/montane zone- and sent some seed overseas 

[RickR]

I see what you mean, Lori.  They do look more different closer up. 

[cohan]

Lori, your first two pics might be the same species, but taken at different times or elevations?  The "rhombic" crinkling of the leaves is sure attractive!

I'm not sure... in these close-ups of the two plants, sometimes I think they are the same and sometimes I think they are different, and I am not familiar enough with Antennaria to be certain if they are the same species or not.
The photos were taken a week apart in mid-August last year, and the plants were growing at roughly similar elevations - the first at about ~2200m (drier conditions on a windy ridge that doesn't generally hold snow) and the second at about ~2600m elevation (much more snowfall here, generally moister conditions, with a few snowbanks persisting into mid-August):
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They seem different, but hard to say without knowing what the pertinent characters are for the species in question! From the bit of reading I've done in the key for Antennaria usually, details of involucre height, colours/shapes of bracts, besides foliar differences- and sometimes habitat /map will be a determinant...