Antennaria

[cohan]

[Moderator note:  Moved from Plants and Gardens/General Alpines/Don't Forget the Red Ones!]

This  (Antennaria dioica) is a common plant in the subalpine zone and in the lowland woods and higher up in the mountains too. You get it in different colors between red and white. The red ones are showiest.

I've not felt comfortable trying to name the small silver Antennarias, which are common here, and at all of the various sites I have visited in Alberta-- dry southern badlands, Aspen parklands east of here, foothills, montane zones, higher up, etc; I have read they are especially prone to the self fertilisation causing numerous clones as opposed to cohesive species, which we were discussing re: Taraxacum etc
I have real doubts about labelling species in this genus based on pink flowers, at least in my area-- patches of otherwise identical pink and white flowered plants grow side by side-- knowing that they may not be interbreeding suggests they could be separate 'species', but by that measure so could individual plants of the same colour  

In any event, they are common as I said, and have done very well for themselves in heavily grazed pastures here, and will grow well in sun or shadier places (not so common in woodlands, but used to being shaded by grasses etc)--there is a patch remaining from bits I planted as a teen in a long gone bit of rock garden which is now on the north side of grown up spruce trees..
If anyone is still interested in pink flowering Antennaria next summer, I can mark a plant to collect seed, or very easily take a few cuttings which grow very easily....
I think the genus deserves its own thread, if it doesn't have one already   I'm very interested in those with black phyllaries (is this the word I want? just went blank) and with single heads...

[Hoy]

We have 5-6 different species of Antennaria here but A dioica is the commonest. I think it is separate sexes of the plants and females being the red ones (if I remember right) and males the white ones. But then, what about the pink ones?

[cohan]

We have 5-6 different species of Antennaria here but A dioica is the commonest. I think it is separate sexes of the plants and females being the red ones (if I remember right) and males the white ones. But then, what about the pink ones?

We have no red, only pink and white, sometimes the pink ones look sort of bicolour, though I'm not convinced that's not at least partly about when you look at the flower--the flower heads change a lot from beginning to end, and I can't say I have looked carefully enough in careful sequence to follow the whole cycle-- I think as with Salix, Betula, Alnus, as I mentioned elsewhere, I need to tag individual plants and follow them through the season..
I have yet to look at Antennarias in Flora of Alberta and see if that helps me any. We have a couple other species clearly distinct from these little silver ones-- a really nice larger rosette sp with dark green tops, white underneath, more of an open woodland plant, and A pulcherrima--with large upright leaves, growing in damp places..

[Lori S.]

As Cohan says, we have no red Antennaria here, only whitish to white to shades of pink.  Are there any truly red Antennaria anywhere, as opposed to dark pink?  It is clearly something I need to get, if so! 

[McDonough]

As Cohan says, we have no red Antennaria here, only whitish to white to shades of pink.  Are there any truly red Antennaria anywhere, as opposed to dark pink?  It is clearly something I need to get, if so!  

I just happened to be gathering up photo links for Antennaria.  Both A. rosea and A. dioica have some very deep color forms that "approach" red, probably actually a very deep pink.  Here's some photo links of each species, ones selected for the deeper colors:

Antennaria rosea
http://lh3.ggpht.com/_zWbDkdxJAyE/SIVAAiAPndI/AAAAAAAAEak/ldI0CK_r-CU/s720/DSCN1194.JPG
http://lh3.ggpht.com/_Hz8TUPlYNG8/SGinxjnEGII/AAAAAAAAAQA/QkCH8JOLv_8/s720/PICT0183.JPG
http://lh4.ggpht.com/_xyII2Q5ikJA/SDQvGzH8HsI/AAAAAAAAHVc/7z63Mb8zboM/CRW_8345_1.jpg
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bigskykatie/2623200024/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/patrickstandish/5389151751/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/patrickstandish/5389755350/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/13095250@N03/1452025594/

Antennaria dioica
http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/view?q=antennaria&psc=G&filter=1#5367191690795508130
http://www.flickr.com/photos/willowherb/3613937415/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/14807213@N05/2502143399/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/12639178@N07/3761224716/

Cohan had suggested having an Antennaria topic, and I'll work on creating one (the reason I was gathering some photo links).

[RickR]

Yes, that's the way Antennaria rosea var. confinus grows for me too:

 

[cohan]

some nice ones there, Mark--
I like the two for Patrick Standish, and the A dioica rubra!
(interestingly, probably because I am signed in to Gmail/google, all the picasa links come up the same for me, a page with half the images mine from picasa...lol)
Here are a few more shots from around here, since we are heading for a thread 
I'll save the whites till the new thread arrives
Here's a pale one from a site a few miles away, edges of a wet ditch, not far from Primula, Pedicularis, Spiranthes, Gentianopsis etc
album: https://picasaweb.google.com/cactuscactus/June282010APrimrosesSparrowSEggsAndMore#



another wet place a few miles away

[cohan]

And these are from a colony here on the farm-- a pasture with numerous patches of both white and 'pink' plants...
I hadn't realised till now looking at some of these shots (I hadn't edited these photos till today, still don't have the album ready).
Of course, looking at these pretty flowers, its good to remember the overall effect, last photo..though I don't mind a little mess

[McDonough]

all the picasa links come up the same for me, a page with half the images mine from picasa...lol)
Here are a few more shots from around here, since we are heading for a thread 

You're right Cohan, it appears that Picasa links do not translate globally.  What I did to correct the problem, is load the Picasa photo, then right-click and select "Copy Image Location", then paste that location into a fresh tab in my browser, to find the true static location of that image... so I have updated my original post with links that work.  I like the pink-flowered form you posted pictures of, very pretty.

Rick, your plants of Antennaria rosea var. confinus are deep-color indeed, very showy. Are these plant from collections made in your area?

Tomorrow I shall move the pertinent Antennaria messages to a new topic.  Cheers.

Mark

[cohan]

Mark,those are some nice deep coloured ones! Rick's form is nice too..

[RickR]

Rick, your plants of Antennaria rosea var. confinus are deep-color indeed, very showy. Are these plant from collections made in your area?

No.  We don't have Antennaria rosea wild here.  That is a plant I have lost track of, but it was a plant that I bought from a place like Arrowhead Alpines.

[Hoy]

Cohan, the pussyfoots you show could as well have been A dioica! They look very similar to those I find here.

[Hoy]

As Cohan says, we have no red Antennaria here, only whitish to white to shades of pink.  Are there any truly red Antennaria anywhere, as opposed to dark pink?  It is clearly something I need to get, if so! 

What would you call the color of the A dioica in the very first entry in this thread, Lori?

[cohan]

Trond-- I just glanced quickly at Flora of Alberta, which says 'A difficult group and the status of species is problematical' interestingly, they don't use the name A dioica; there are several other species which could be in my area based on the maps, and it will no doubt take some scrutiny of keys and descriptions (and some study to understand those and examining plants in the field with the right characters in mind!-measuring involucres and counting stem leaves etc...

[Lori S.]

Unequivocally pink to me, Trond.    However, having said that, it raises a very good point!  One's determination of colour is rather subjective, even beyond the differences that can be imposed by different monitors.  I have often thought of buying the RHS colour charts in order to see and be able to compare to the "standards"... maybe I will finally get them.  
The cost is £170 for the full size version (ouch!); the mini version is £25:
http://www.rhs.org.uk/Plants/RHS-Publications/RHS-colour-charts
Stuart has also expressed an interest in these... which would help to justify the rather exorbitant cost  ... in order to compare to descriptions of water lilies (which note the RHS standards), since quite a few seem to come mislabelled.