Antennaria plantaginifolia. a. Portion of plant showing rooting of creeping stem. b. Detail of staminate head, c. Female flower, d. Male flower. From Buchholtz 1968.

Europeans were long familiar with mountain everlasting (Antennaria dioicd) when they arrived in the New World. That medical species had a venerable history of use in Eurasia as an aromatic, bitter, vulnerary, diuretic, expectorant used to treat bronchitis, and in teas to improve milk flow in nursing women, to treat diarrhea, and for gallbladder problems (Hocking 1997). The species and its uses were discussed by Rembert Dodoens in 1616, Gaspar Bauhin in 1623, J.G.Gmelin between 1747 and 1749, and several times by Linnaeus between 1737 and 1753.