pussy-toes, any of several species of low-growing, gray-white, wooly plants of a genus (Antennaria) in the aster family (Asteraceae), native to North and South America, northern Europe, and Asia. Typically the basal leaves are large, with smaller and fewer leaves along the upright stem. Some species cultivated for the dried flower heads, in clusters resembling a cat’s paw (hence “pussy-toes”), are also called everlasting. A few species are grown in rock gardens.
Antennaria dioica has several cultivated varieties of white, wooly appearance and with small clusters of white to rose flowers. In some species, including smaller pussy-toes (A. neodioica), male flowers are rare. The plantain-leaved pussy-toes (A. plantaginifolia), also called ladies’ tobacco, has longer and broader basal leaves.