Packera cynthioides
Packera cana
White Mountain ragwort
woolly butterweed, woolly groundsel
1 or 2–3, clustered, densely lanate-tomentose or canescent, tufts of arachnoid tomentum in leaf axils, or glabrescent.
1 (per rosette, rosettes clustered), densely lanate or canescent.
(thick, leathery) petiolate;
blades narrowly lanceolate or oblanceolate, 25–100+ × 5–20 mm, bases tapering, margins entire, subentire, dentate, or wavy (adaxial faces early glabrescent).
(and proximal cauline) petiolate;
blades ovate or elliptic to lanceolate, 25–50+ × 10–30 mm, bases tapering, margins entire or irregularly undulate to weakly dentate (abaxial faces persistently lanate, adaxial lanate to subglabrescent).
gradually reduced (sessile; lanceolate to oblanceolate, entire or wavy).
gradually reduced (petiolate or sessile, then weakly clasping; elliptic to lanceolate, entire or weakly dentate).
0 (or relatively reduced, then densely tomentose).
bracteate, usually densely lanate to floccose-tomentose (sometimes subglabrescent).
(5–)8;
corolla laminae 8–10+ mm.
8–10 (or 13);
corolla laminae 8–10+ mm.
35–45+;
corolla tubes 2.5–3.5 mm, limbs 3.5–4.5 mm.
35–50+;
corolla tubes 2.5–3.5 mm, limbs 3.5–4.5 mm.
(8–)13, green (tips red), 3–6 mm, densely tomentose proximally, glabrate distally.
13 or 21, green, 5–8+ mm, densely tomentose.
inconspicuous (bractlets red-tipped).
inconspicuous (bractlets tomentose).
10–30+ in open or congested, cymiform arrays.
8–15+ in corymbiform arrays.
1–1.5 mm, glabrous;
pappi 5–6 mm.
2.5–3.5+ mm, glabrous;
pappi 4.5–7 mm.
= 46.
= 46, 92.
Packera cynthioides
Packera cana
Packera cynthioides blooms later than other Packera species at the same latitudes. It is noted by collectors as usually growing on north- or west-facing slopes in limestone-derived soils. Its cauline leaves are well developed and held at a shallow angle to the stem, giving the plant a more “leafy” aspect than other members of the genus.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Packera cana is found in a wide variety of habitats and in a wide range of elevations throughout the western Cordillera and into the High Plains. Morphology is relatively uniform throughout its range except that alpine specimens are notably dwarfed and are often mistaken for P. werneriifolia, which differs by its consistently scapiform habit.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
- Local floras:
BC, 
CA, 
OR, 
WA - Local Web sites: CalFlora, CalPhotos,
Flora NW, 
KS Wildflowers, 
MN Wildflowers, 
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
