When the hepatica, arbutus, saxifrage, and adder's tongue are
running for first place among the earliest spring flowers,
another modest little competitor joins the race - the DWARF
EVERLASTING (Antennaria plantaginifolia), also known as
PLANTAIN-LEAVED, MOUSE-EAR, SPRING or EARLY EVERLASTING, WHITE
PLANTAIN, PUSSY-TOES and LADIES' TOBACCO. From March to June, in
different parts of its wide range, rocky fields, hillsides, and
dry, open woods are whitened with broad patches of it, formed by
runners; the fertile plants from six to eighteen inches high; the
male plants, in distinct patches, smaller throughout. At the base
the tufted leaves, which are green on the upper side, but silvery
beneath, often woolly when young, are broadly oval or spatulate,
the upper leaves oblong to lance-shaped, seated on the woolly
stem. Charming little rosettes remain all winter, ready to send
up the first flowers displayed by the vast host of composites.
Several little heads of fertile florets, resembling tufts of
silvery-white silk, are set in pale-greenish cups in a broad
cluster at the top of the stem; the staminate florets in whiter
cups with more rounded scales.
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