Pedicularis dasyantha, the woolly lousewort or arctic hairy lousewort, is a plant native to the high arctic areas of Svalbard, Novaya Zemlya and the bordering mainland, and the western Taymyr Peninsula. In Svalbard it is restricted to the main island, Spitsbergen.[1]

Pedicularis dasyantha
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Lamiales
Family: Orobanchaceae
Genus: Pedicularis
Species:
P. dasyantha
Binomial name
Pedicularis dasyantha
(Trautv.) Hadac

It grows to 10–15 cm tall, with a stout stem, single or a few together, from a thick, yellow taproot.[1] The basal leaves are numerous and pinnately divided into many remote segments. The stem has many leaves, woolly in the uppermost part between the flowers.[2] The flowers are produced in a dense oblong inflorescence, each flower with a red corolla, with the upper tip hairy; the corolla tube is longer than the calyx.

It grows in moist places and on heaths, often together with Dryas octopetala and Cassiope tetragona. Like all Pedicularis it is a hemiparasite and the preferred host is probably Dryas octopetala.[1]

References

edit
 
A P. dasyantha plant seen from above
  1. ^ a b c "Pedicularis dasyantha". Svalbard Flora. Retrieved 2023-11-25.
  2. ^ "Wildflowers - Bering Land Bridge National Preserve". National Park Service. Retrieved 2023-11-25.