Pussy’s Toes Antennaria Dioeca
The soft fuzzy balls that give this plant its name are the pistillate or seed-bearing flowers, while the staminate or pollen-bearing ones grow in heads on other stems. The botanical name for the genus refers to the fact that the protruded brown anthers of the staminate heads sometimes resemble the antennae of insects. The heads are creamy white with rose-colored bracts enclosing them at the base, and bloom in spring and early summer. The plants are 2-15 in. tall and grow on prairies and in meadows and aspen woodland at 3000-10000 ft. The leaves are gray from the white woolly hairs covering them, and grow in clusters at the base of the flowering stems. These clusters usually form dense mats, the leaves of which are sometimes chewed by children as Indian Tobacco or Ladies’ Tobacco.