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.