Packera indecora |
Packera plattensis |
|
---|---|---|
elegant groundsel, rayless mountain butterweed, rayless mountain groundsel, rayless mountain ragwort |
plains butterweed, prairie groundsel |
|
Habit | Perennials, 10–100 cm; taprooted (caudices erect to suberect, relatively stout, branched). | Biennials or perennials, 20–60+ cm; rhizomatous and/or fibrous-rooted (bases erect to suberect), sometimes stoloniferous (mostly eastern populations). |
Stems | 1 or 2–3, loosely clustered, glabrous or glabrate. |
1 or 2–3, clustered, floccose-tomentose proximally and in leaf axils, otherwise sparsely tomentose 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. |
(and proximal cauline) petiolate; blades narrowly elliptic to elliptic-ovate or oblanceolate to suborbiculate or sublyrate, 20–70+ × 10–30+ mm, bases tapering to rounded or abruptly contracted, margins subentire to crenate, serrate-dentate, or pinnately lobed (abaxial faces floccose-tomentose, especially along midribs, ± glabrescent). |
Cauline leaves | gradually reduced (petiolate, resembling basals, sublyrate or dissected; distal sessile, subentire to pinnatifid). |
gradually reduced (petiolate, sublyrate or pinnatisect, abaxial faces sparsely hairy; distals sessile, subentire to irregularly dissected). |
Peduncles | ebracteate (or bractlets inconspicuous), glabrous or glabrate. |
conspicuously bracteate, sparsely to densely tomentose. |
Ray florets | 0 or 8–10; corolla laminae (deep yellow) 3–5 mm. |
8–10; corolla laminae 9–10 mm. |
Disc florets | 60–70+; corolla tubes 2–3 mm, limbs 2.5–3.5 mm. |
60–70+; 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. |
13 or 21, green (tips sometimes cyanic), 5–6+ mm, densely tomentose proximally, glabrescent distally. |
Calyculi | conspicuous (bractlets green, tips sometimes reddish). |
inconspicuous. |
Heads | 8–20+ in subumbelliform arrays. |
6–20+ in open or congested, corymbiform arrays. |
Cypselae | 1–2 mm, glabrous; pappi 3–4 mm. |
1.5–2.5 mm, usually hirtellous, sometimes glabrous; pappi 6.5–7.5 mm. |
2n | = 46, 126, 176, 184. |
= 46, 92. |
Packera indecora |
Packera plattensis |
|
Phenology | Flowering mid Jun–late Aug. | Flowering mid Apr–early Jun(–mid Jul, north). |
Habitat | Damp meadows, along streams, wet woodlands | Prairies, meadows, open wooded areas, along highways, railroads, around mining and construction areas, usually on limestone |
Elevation | 0–2300 m (0–7500 ft) | 50–1800 m (200–5900 ft) |
Distribution |
AK; CA; ID; MI; MN; MT; WA; WY; AB; BC; LB; MB; NT; NU; ON; QC; SK; YT
|
AR; CO; GA; IA; IL; IN; KS; LA; MI; MN; MO; MS; MT; ND; NE; NM; OH; OK; PA; SD; TN; VA; WI; WY; ON; SK
|
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 plattensis is abundant, widespread, and almost weedy. Putative hybrids with other species are known. Plants in mesic, remnant prairies in the east are sometimes stoloniferous. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 20, p. 590. | FNA vol. 20, p. 596. |
Parent taxa | Asteraceae > tribe Senecioneae > Packera | Asteraceae > tribe Senecioneae > Packera |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Senecio indecorus, Senecio burkei, Senecio idahoensis, Senecio pauciflorus subsp. fallax | Senecio plattensis, Senecio pseudotomentosus |
Name authority | (Greene) Á. Löve & D. Löve: Bot. Not. 128: 520. (1976) | (Nuttall) W. A. Weber & Á. Löve: Phytologia 49: 48. (1981) |
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