Burke: Senecio vulgaris vs. Senecio neowebsteri

	Senecio vulgaris	Senecio neowebsteri
	common groundsel, old man in the spring	Olympic Mountain ragwort
Habit	Simple or strongly-branched, tap-rooted annual, 1-4 dm. tall.	Perennial from a well-developed rhizome, the stem 0.5-2 dm. tall; herbage spider-webby at first, becoming nearly glabrous.
Leaves	Leafy throughout, the leaves coarsely and irregularly toothed to pinnatifid, 2-10 cm. long and 5-45 mm. wide, the lower tapering to a petiole, the upper sessile and clasping.	Basal leaves large, petiolate, sometimes tufted on separate short shoots, the blade broadly oblanceolate to sub-rotund, up to 7 cm. long a 4 cm. wide; cauline leaves few, usually strongly reduced; leaves often with purplish margins.
Flowers	Heads many, strictly rayless, the flowers all tubular and perfect; disk usually 5-10 mm. wide; involucre 5-8 mm. high, the princeple bracts about 21, the bracteoles short but well-developed, black tipped; pappus copious.	Heads solitary, nodding, the involucre 11-17 mm. high, the disk 1.5-2.5 cm. wide; involucre bracts in a single series, equal, herbaceous, the tips pale; ray flowers yellow, pistillate and fertile, the rays 10-15 mm. long; disk flowers yellow, perfect and fertile; pappus of white capillary bristles.
Fruits		Achene sub-terete

	Senecio vulgaris	Senecio neowebsteri
Identification notes	Separate from the only other annual Senecio in our area by the number of involucre bracts (S. vulgaris has about 21, S. sylvaticus,13), the bracteoles (only S. vulgarisÃ† are black-tipped) and the aroma (only S. sylvaticus is malodorous).
Flowering time	February-September	Aug.-Sept.
Habitat	Roadsides, waste ground, lawns, and other disturbed, open sites.	Talus slopes and rocky places.
Distribution	Occurring on both sides of the Cascades crest in Washington; Alaska to California, east across most of North America to the Atlantic Coast. [WildflowerSearch map] [BONAP county map]	Occurring west of the Cascades crest, where endemic to the Olympic Mountains of Washington. [WildflowerSearch map] [BONAP county map]
Origin	Introduced from Europe	Native
Conservation status	Not of concern	Not of concern
Sibling taxa	S. elmeri, S. fremontii, S. hydrophiloides, S. hydrophilus, S. integerrimus, S. lugens, S. neowebsteri, S. serra, S. sylvaticus, S. triangularis, S. viscosus	S. elmeri, S. fremontii, S. hydrophiloides, S. hydrophilus, S. integerrimus, S. lugens, S. serra, S. sylvaticus, S. triangularis, S. viscosus, S. vulgaris
Web links	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	Local floras: WA Local Web sites: 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

Senecio neowebsteri

common groundsel, old man in the spring

Olympic Mountain ragwort

Habit

Simple or strongly-branched, tap-rooted annual, 1-4 dm. tall.

Perennial from a well-developed rhizome, the stem 0.5-2 dm. tall; herbage spider-webby at first, becoming nearly glabrous.

Leaves

Leafy throughout, the leaves coarsely and irregularly toothed to pinnatifid, 2-10 cm. long and 5-45 mm. wide, the lower tapering to a petiole, the upper sessile and clasping.

Basal leaves large, petiolate, sometimes tufted on separate short shoots, the blade broadly oblanceolate to sub-rotund, up to 7 cm. long a 4 cm. wide;

cauline leaves few, usually strongly reduced;

leaves often with purplish margins.

Flowers

Heads many, strictly rayless, the flowers all tubular and perfect; disk usually 5-10 mm. wide;

involucre 5-8 mm. high, the princeple bracts about 21, the bracteoles short but well-developed, black tipped;

pappus copious.

Heads solitary, nodding, the involucre 11-17 mm. high, the disk 1.5-2.5 cm. wide;

involucre bracts in a single series, equal, herbaceous, the tips pale;

ray flowers yellow, pistillate and fertile, the rays 10-15 mm. long;

disk flowers yellow, perfect and fertile;

pappus of white capillary bristles.

Fruits

Achene sub-terete

Separate from the only other annual Senecio in our area by the number of involucre bracts (S. vulgaris has about 21, S. sylvaticus,13), the bracteoles (only S. vulgarisÃ† are black-tipped) and the aroma (only S. sylvaticus is malodorous).

Flowering time

February-September

Aug.-Sept.

Habitat

Roadsides, waste ground, lawns, and other disturbed, open sites.

Talus slopes and rocky places.

Distribution