Flora of North America species comparison

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Packera indecora

elegant groundsel, rayless mountain butterweed, rayless mountain groundsel, rayless mountain ragwort
Habit Perennials, 10–100 cm; taprooted (caudices erect to suberect, relatively stout, branched).
Stems

1 or 2–3, loosely clustered, glabrous or glabrate.
Basal leaves

petiolate;

blades elliptic-ovate, oblong, or subreniform, 20–50 × 10–40+ mm, bases subcordate, truncate, or cuneate, margins usually crenate-dentate to coarsely dentate-lacerate, seldom subentire.
Cauline leaves

gradually reduced (petiolate, resembling basals, sublyrate or dissected; distal sessile, subentire to pinnatifid).
Peduncles

ebracteate (or bractlets inconspicuous), glabrous or glabrate.
Ray florets

0 or 8–10;

corolla laminae (deep yellow) 3–5 mm.
Disc florets

60–70+;

corolla tubes 2–3 mm, limbs 2.5–3.5 mm.
Phyllaries

13 or 21, green (tips sometimes reddish), 7–9 mm, glabrous.
Calyculi

conspicuous (bractlets green, tips sometimes reddish).
Heads

8–20+ in subumbelliform arrays.
Cypselae

1–2 mm, glabrous;

pappi 3–4 mm.
2n

= 46, 126, 176, 184.

Packera indecora
Phenology Flowering mid Jun–late Aug.
Habitat Damp meadows, along streams, wet woodlands
Elevation 0–2300 m (0–7500 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AK; CA; ID; MI; MN; MT; WA; WY; AB; BC; LB; MB; NT; NU; ON; QC; SK; YT
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Packera indecora is found at relatively low elevations in eastern Canada and at middle to subalpine elevations in the western cordillera. It closely resembles P. pauciflora and it is often difficult to identify specimens in the herbarium. Biosystematic studies (J. F. Bain and J. Whitton 1994) have indicated that although they are morphologically similar, P. indecora and P. pauciflora have distinctly different physiologies and should be maintained as distinct taxa.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 20, p. 590.
Parent taxa Asteraceae > tribe Senecioneae > Packera
Sibling taxa
P. anonyma, P. antennariifolia, P. aurea, P. bernardina, P. bolanderi, P. breweri, P. cana, P. cardamine, P. castoreus, P. clevelandii, P. contermina, P. crocata, P. cymbalaria, P. cynthioides, P. debilis, P. dimorphophylla, P. eurycephala, P. fendleri, P. flettii, P. franciscana, P. ganderi, P. glabella, P. greenei, P. hartiana, P. hesperia, P. hyperborealis, P. ionophylla, P. layneae, P. macounii, P. malmstenii, P. millefolium, P. millelobata, P. multilobata, P. musiniensis, P. neomexicana, P. obovata, P. ogotorukensis, P. pauciflora, P. paupercula, P. plattensis, P. porteri, P. pseudaurea, P. quercetorum, P. sanguisorboides, P. schweinitziana, P. spellenbergii, P. streptanthifolia, P. subnuda, P. tampicana, P. texensis, P. tomentosa, P. tridenticulata, P. werneriifolia
Synonyms Senecio indecorus, Senecio burkei, Senecio idahoensis, Senecio pauciflorus subsp. fallax
Name authority (Greene) Á. Löve & D. Löve: Bot. Not. 128: 520. (1976)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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