Plain-leaf pussytoes

Antennaria parlinii, Parlin's pussytoes or plain-leaf pussytoes, is a low perennial herb of the family Asteraceae, native to eastern and central North America where it grows in dry open woods, glades and rocky slopes. Plants spread vegetatively by leafy stolons to form loose mats of basal rosettes. The basal leaves are spatulate to broadly obovate, 2 to 6 centimetres long, with three to five conspicuous parallel veins (a distinguishing feature within the genus), green and finely tomentose above and densely white-woolly beneath. Flowering stems are erect, 15 to 40 centimetres tall, clothed in narrow stem leaves and bearing terminal corymbose clusters of small cylindrical flower heads. The species is dioecious — staminate and pistillate heads are borne on separate plants, with phyllary tips white or pinkish-tinged. Fruits are small cypselae with a fine bristly pappus. Apomixis is common, and several morphological forms are recognised.