Packera indecora
Packera schweinitziana
elegant groundsel, rayless mountain butterweed, rayless mountain groundsel, rayless mountain ragwort
New England groundsel, Schweinitz's groundsel, Schweinitz's ragwort
1 or 2–3, loosely clustered, glabrous or glabrate.
1, glabrous or leaf axils sparsely tomentose.
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 ovate to oblong-lanceolate, 30–70+ × 10–20+ mm, bases abruptly contracted to subcordate, margins usually serrate-dentate, sometimes subcrenate (apices acute).
gradually reduced (petiolate, resembling basals, sublyrate or dissected; distal sessile, subentire to pinnatifid).
gradually reduced (± sessile; lacerate to subcrenate).
ebracteate (or bractlets inconspicuous), glabrous or glabrate.
bracteate, glabrous.
0 or 8–10;
corolla laminae (deep yellow) 3–5 mm.
8–13;
corolla laminae 4–7 mm.
60–70+;
corolla tubes 2–3 mm, limbs 2.5–3.5 mm.
50–70+;
corolla tubes 3.5–4 mm, limbs 3–3.5 mm.
13 or 21, green (tips sometimes reddish), 7–9 mm, glabrous.
13 or 21, light green (tips sometimes black), 5–8 mm, glabrous.
conspicuous (bractlets green, tips sometimes reddish).
conspicuous.
8–20+ in subumbelliform arrays.
8–20+ in loose, corymbiform arrays.
1–2 mm, glabrous;
pappi 3–4 mm.
1–1.5 mm, glabrous;
pappi 5–5.5 mm.
= 46, 126, 176, 184.
= 44.
Packera indecora
Packera schweinitziana
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 schweinitziana is rarely mistaken for any other taxon. It grows on slightly acidic soils and may reproduce vegetatively by branched rhizomes. The group of populations on Roan Mountain on the Tennessee-North Carolina border is disjunct from the main distribution.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
BC
CA
WA
Flora NW
MI Flora
MN Wildflowers
PNW Herbaria
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
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