Packera plattensis
Packera indecora
plains butterweed, prairie groundsel
elegant groundsel, rayless mountain butterweed, rayless mountain groundsel, rayless mountain ragwort
1 or 2–3, clustered, floccose-tomentose proximally and in leaf axils, otherwise sparsely tomentose or glabrescent.
1 or 2–3, loosely clustered, glabrous or glabrate.
(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).
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.
gradually reduced (petiolate, sublyrate or pinnatisect, abaxial faces sparsely hairy; distals sessile, subentire to irregularly dissected).
gradually reduced (petiolate, resembling basals, sublyrate or dissected; distal sessile, subentire to pinnatifid).
conspicuously bracteate, sparsely to densely tomentose.
ebracteate (or bractlets inconspicuous), glabrous or glabrate.
8–10;
corolla laminae 9–10 mm.
0 or 8–10;
corolla laminae (deep yellow) 3–5 mm.
60–70+;
corolla tubes 2.5–3.5 mm, limbs 3.5–4.5 mm.
60–70+;
corolla tubes 2–3 mm, limbs 2.5–3.5 mm.
13 or 21, green (tips sometimes cyanic), 5–6+ mm, densely tomentose proximally, glabrescent distally.
13 or 21, green (tips sometimes reddish), 7–9 mm, glabrous.
inconspicuous.
conspicuous (bractlets green, tips sometimes reddish).
6–20+ in open or congested, corymbiform arrays.
8–20+ in subumbelliform arrays.
1.5–2.5 mm, usually hirtellous, sometimes glabrous;
pappi 6.5–7.5 mm.
1–2 mm, glabrous;
pappi 3–4 mm.
= 46, 92.
= 46, 126, 176, 184.
Packera plattensis
Packera indecora
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.)
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.)
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