Krascheninnikovia lanata (Winter Fat) - photos and description
Male flower highlighted in above photo.
Arrow pointing at female flower
Leaf top side in above photo.
Leaf underside showing edges rolled under in above photo.
General: Low shrub with grey foliage with leaves greyish-white woolly on both sides. Plants have a decumbent to erect growth habit. Resembles Artemesia spp. however, unlike our native, grey-leaved Sages, this plant's foliage does not have the characteristic Sage smell - Winter Fat's foliage is odorless.
Flowers: Flowers tiny, yellow in axillary clusters, single-sexed, staminate flowers above pistillate flowers on plants. Flowers in July.
Leaves: Alternate, linear, with short petioles and margins rolled under. We measured a leaf at 35 mm long by 4 mm wide.
Height: Height listed in Budd's Flora to 50 cm, we measured plants to 50 cm tall.
Habitat: Dry prairie and slopes.
Abundance: Common.
Origin: Native.
Synonym: Listed in some of the field guides we use as Eurotia lantana.
When and where photographed: We took the above photos July 31st and August 18th, grassland slopes in the Qu'Appelle Valley about 30 km north of our home in Regina, SK.