Packera indecora |
Packera cynthioides |
|
---|---|---|
elegant groundsel, rayless mountain butterweed, rayless mountain groundsel, rayless mountain ragwort |
White Mountain ragwort |
|
Habit | Perennials, 10–100 cm; taprooted (caudices erect to suberect, relatively stout, branched). | Perennials, 20–40+ cm; rhizomatous (rhizomes horizontal to erect). |
Stems | 1 or 2–3, loosely clustered, glabrous or glabrate. |
1 or 2–3, clustered, densely lanate-tomentose or canescent, tufts of arachnoid tomentum in leaf axils, or glabrescent. |
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. |
(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). |
Cauline leaves | gradually reduced (petiolate, resembling basals, sublyrate or dissected; distal sessile, subentire to pinnatifid). |
gradually reduced (sessile; lanceolate to oblanceolate, entire or wavy). |
Peduncles | ebracteate (or bractlets inconspicuous), glabrous or glabrate. |
0 (or relatively reduced, then densely tomentose). |
Ray florets | 0 or 8–10; corolla laminae (deep yellow) 3–5 mm. |
(5–)8; corolla laminae 8–10+ mm. |
Disc florets | 60–70+; corolla tubes 2–3 mm, limbs 2.5–3.5 mm. |
35–45+; corolla tubes 2.5–3.5 mm, limbs 3.5–4.5 mm. |
Phyllaries | 13 or 21, green (tips sometimes reddish), 7–9 mm, glabrous. |
(8–)13, green (tips red), 3–6 mm, densely tomentose proximally, glabrate distally. |
Calyculi | conspicuous (bractlets green, tips sometimes reddish). |
inconspicuous (bractlets red-tipped). |
Heads | 8–20+ in subumbelliform arrays. |
10–30+ in open or congested, cymiform arrays. |
Cypselae | 1–2 mm, glabrous; pappi 3–4 mm. |
1–1.5 mm, glabrous; pappi 5–6 mm. |
2n | = 46, 126, 176, 184. |
= 46. |
Packera indecora |
Packera cynthioides |
|
Phenology | Flowering mid Jun–late Aug. | Flowering late Jul–mid Sep. |
Habitat | Damp meadows, along streams, wet woodlands | Loose rocky soils, steep slopes, subalpine and pine-juniper forests |
Elevation | 0–2300 m (0–7500 ft) | 2200–2900 m (7200–9500 ft) |
Distribution |
AK; CA; ID; MI; MN; MT; WA; WY; AB; BC; LB; MB; NT; NU; ON; QC; SK; YT
|
NM
|
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.) |
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.) |
Source | FNA vol. 20, p. 590. | FNA vol. 20, p. 583. |
Parent taxa | Asteraceae > tribe Senecioneae > Packera | Asteraceae > tribe Senecioneae > Packera |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Senecio indecorus, Senecio burkei, Senecio idahoensis, Senecio pauciflorus subsp. fallax | Senecio cynthioides, Senecio fendleri var. subintegra, Senecio wrightii |
Name authority | (Greene) Á. Löve & D. Löve: Bot. Not. 128: 520. (1976) | (Greene) W. A. Weber & Á. Löve: Phytologia 49: 46. (1981) |
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