Burke: Packera paupercula vs. Packera cana

	Packera paupercula	Packera cana
	Canadian butterweed, balsam groundsel	woolly groundsel
Habit	Fibrous-rooted perennial from a short, simple crown, the stem 1-5 dm. tall, lightly woolly when young, soon glabrate except for the leaf axils.	Several-stemmed perennial from a taproot, 1-4 dm. tall, white-woolly throughout.
Leaves	Basal leaves long-petiolate, the blade oblanceolate to elliptic, sub-entire to serrate with rounded teeth; cauline leave alternate, more or less pinnatifid, the lower petiolate and as large as the basal, reduced upward and becoming sessile, all thin and not succulent.	Basal leaves more or less tufted, narrowly oblanceolate to broadly elliptic, the blade 1-5 cm. long and 4-30 mm. wide, entire to sub-pinnately lobed, petiolate; other leaves few, stongly reduced upward, becoming bract-like.
Flowers	Heads several, the disk 5-12 mm. wide; involucre 6-9 mm. high; rays yellow, 5-10 mm. long.	Heads several in an open, somewhat flat-topped inflorescence; involucre 4-8 mm. high; rays 6-13 mm. long, yellow.
Fruits	Achene

	Packera paupercula	Packera cana
Flowering time	May-October	May-August
Habitat	Meadows, moist cilffs and woods, from the foothills to middle elevations in the mountains.	Dry, open, often rocky places, from the foothills to alpine meadows.
Distribution	Occurring east of the Cascades crest in Washington British Columbia to Washington, east to the Rocky Mountains, northern Great Plains, and eastern North America. [WildflowerSearch map] [BONAP county map]	Occurring east of the Cascades crest in Washington; British Columbia to California, east to the northern Great Plains. [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. indecora, P. macounii, P. pauciflora, P. porteri, P. pseudaurea, P. streptanthifolia, P. subnuda	P. bolanderi, P. contermina, P. flettii, P. indecora, P. macounii, P. pauciflora, P. paupercula, P. porteri, P. pseudaurea, P. streptanthifolia, P. subnuda
Web links	Local floras: BC, 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	Local floras: BC, CA, OR, WA Local Web sites: CalFlora, CalPhotos, Flora NW, PNW Herbaria, Turner Photog. WildflowerSearch iNaturalist (observations) USDA Plants Database LBJ Wildflower Center SEINet Plants of the World Online Encyclopedia of Life Wikipedia Google Image Search

Packera cana

Canadian butterweed, balsam groundsel

woolly groundsel

Habit

Fibrous-rooted perennial from a short, simple crown, the stem 1-5 dm. tall, lightly woolly when young, soon glabrate except for the leaf axils.

Several-stemmed perennial from a taproot, 1-4 dm. tall, white-woolly throughout.

Leaves

Basal leaves long-petiolate, the blade oblanceolate to elliptic, sub-entire to serrate with rounded teeth;

cauline leave alternate, more or less pinnatifid, the lower petiolate and as large as the basal, reduced upward and becoming sessile, all thin and not succulent.

Basal leaves more or less tufted, narrowly oblanceolate to broadly elliptic, the blade 1-5 cm. long and 4-30 mm. wide, entire to sub-pinnately lobed, petiolate; other leaves few, stongly reduced upward, becoming bract-like.

Flowers

Heads several, the disk 5-12 mm. wide;

involucre 6-9 mm. high;

rays yellow, 5-10 mm. long.

Heads several in an open, somewhat flat-topped inflorescence;

involucre 4-8 mm. high;

rays 6-13 mm. long, yellow.

Fruits

Achene

Packera paupercula

Packera cana

Flowering time

May-October

May-August

Habitat

Meadows, moist cilffs and woods, from the foothills to middle elevations in the mountains.

Dry, open, often rocky places, from the foothills to alpine meadows.

Distribution

Occurring east of the Cascades crest in Washington British Columbia to Washington, east to the Rocky Mountains, northern Great Plains, and eastern North America.

[WildflowerSearch map]

[BONAP county map]