Single Record

Counties: Alamosa, Conejos, Costilla, Hinsdale, Mineral, Rio Grande, Saguache

PhotoRecords: YES Mary E. McDonald: Conejos Co near Conejos River and FSR 250, 18 July 2022, 8 Aug 2022; Rich Haswell: Saguache Co, near Luders cpgd 25 Aug 2021

Comments: Antennaria microphylla has been frequently collected from both sides of the Valley, usually from the montane but also from the foothills, the subalpine, and the alpine. Ramaley’s 1934 specimen from Alamosa, Alamosa Co is the only A. microphylla from the Upper Basin; the 1934 San Luis Hills record is the only one from the Lower Basin. This is a common Rocky Mountain and Intermoutain species, which has been recorded from the Rio Grande drainage down through Santa Fe Co, New Mexico, but not farther down river. Note that A. microphylla hybridizes with A. rosea, and that in the past A. rosea was sometimes treated as a variety of A. microphylla. But A. microphylla is dioecious, some plants with pistillate heads, some with staminate heads. A. rosea has only pistillate heads. Also the lower stems of A. microphylla are stipulate-glandular, those of A. rosea are not. To distinguish the two species, these morphological features may serve better than color of involucral bracts.