Burke: Packera indecora vs. Packera pseudaurea

	Packera indecora	Packera pseudaurea
	rayless mountain butterweed, elegant groundsel	streambank butterweed
Habit	Glabrous perennial with fibrous roots, 3-8 dm. tall.	Fibrous-rooted perennial from a short rhizome, essentially glabrous by flowering time, 3-7 dm. tall.
Leaves	Thin, the basal one elliptic or broadly ovate, usually tapering at the base, petiolate, serrate or sometimes incised; cauline leaves sharply incised-pinnatifid, the lobes irregularly again few toothed, reduced and becoming sessile upward.	Leaves thin, the basal ones long-petiolate, the blades sharply toothed, ovate, cordate to truncate at the base, the cauline ones few, progressively reduced upward, becoming sessile, pinnatifid or incised toward their bases.
Flowers	Heads 6-40, yellow, discoid or rarely with short rays; involucre 7-10 mm. high, its bracts often with purple tips.	Heads several to many, the disk 8-13 mm. wide; involucre 5-8 mm. high; rays 6-10 mm. long, yellow.

	Packera indecora	Packera pseudaurea
Identification notes	The thin, serrate basal leaves and ray-less yellow flowers should distinguish this species.	The sub-cordate basal leaves that are sharply toothed but not otherwise divided is characteristic of this species.
Flowering time	July-August	June-August
Habitat	Damp meadows to stream banks and moist woodlands, from the valleys to the subalpine.	Wet meadows, stream banks and moist woodlands from middle elevations to the sublpine.
Distribution	Occurring on both sides of the Cascades crest in northern Washington; Alaska to Washington, and also in California, east to Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, and in the Great Lakes Region, also east across Canada to the Atlantic Coast. [WildflowerSearch map] [BONAP county map]	Occurring on both sides of the Cascades crest in Washington; British Columbia to California, the Rocky Mountains, northern Great Plains, and central U.S. [WildflowerSearch map] [BONAP county map]
Origin	Native	Native
Conservation status	Not of concern	Not of concern
Sibling taxa	P. bolanderi, P. cana, P. contermina, P. flettii, P. macounii, P. pauciflora, P. paupercula, P. porteri, P. pseudaurea, P. streptanthifolia, P. subnuda	P. bolanderi, P. cana, P. contermina, P. flettii, P. indecora, P. macounii, P. pauciflora, P. paupercula, P. porteri, P. streptanthifolia, P. subnuda
Subordinate taxa		P. pseudaurea var. pseudaurea
Web links	Local floras: BC, CA, WA Local Web sites: CalFlora, CalPhotos, Flora NW, PNW Herbaria WildflowerSearch iNaturalist (observations) USDA Plants Database LBJ Wildflower Center SEINet Plants of the World Online Encyclopedia of Life Wikipedia Google Image Search	Local floras: BC, OR, WA Local Web sites: Flora NW, PNW Herbaria WildflowerSearch iNaturalist (observations) USDA Plants Database LBJ Wildflower Center SEINet Plants of the World Online Encyclopedia of Life Wikipedia Google Image Search

Packera pseudaurea

rayless mountain butterweed, elegant groundsel

streambank butterweed

Habit

Glabrous perennial with fibrous roots, 3-8 dm. tall.

Fibrous-rooted perennial from a short rhizome, essentially glabrous by flowering time, 3-7 dm. tall.

Leaves

Thin, the basal one elliptic or broadly ovate, usually tapering at the base, petiolate, serrate or sometimes incised;

cauline leaves sharply incised-pinnatifid, the lobes irregularly again few toothed, reduced and becoming sessile upward.

Leaves thin, the basal ones long-petiolate, the blades sharply toothed, ovate, cordate to truncate at the base, the cauline ones few, progressively reduced upward, becoming sessile, pinnatifid or incised toward their bases.

Flowers

Heads 6-40, yellow, discoid or rarely with short rays;

involucre 7-10 mm. high, its bracts often with purple tips.

Heads several to many, the disk 8-13 mm. wide;

involucre 5-8 mm. high;

rays 6-10 mm. long, yellow.

Packera indecora

Packera pseudaurea

Identification notes

The thin, serrate basal leaves and ray-less yellow flowers should distinguish this species.

The sub-cordate basal leaves that are sharply toothed but not otherwise divided is characteristic of this species.

Flowering time

July-August

June-August

Habitat

Damp meadows to stream banks and moist woodlands, from the valleys to the subalpine.

Wet meadows, stream banks and moist woodlands from middle elevations to the sublpine.

Distribution

Occurring on both sides of the Cascades crest in northern Washington; Alaska to Washington, and also in California, east to Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, and in the Great Lakes Region, also east across Canada to the Atlantic Coast.

[WildflowerSearch map]

[BONAP county map]

Occurring on both sides of the Cascades crest in Washington; British Columbia to California, the Rocky Mountains, northern Great Plains, and central U.S.

[WildflowerSearch map]

[BONAP county map]

Origin

Native

Conservation status

Not of concern

Sibling taxa