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Senecio lugens

black-tip groundsel, small blacktip ragwort

Habit Perennials, (10–)20–35(–50) cm (rhizomes suberect to creeping).
Herbage

loosely, often unevenly, floccose-tomentose, glabrescent.

Stems

single or clustered.

Leaves

reduced distally; petiolate;

blades narrowly obovate to oblanceolate, (4–)8–18(–25) cm, bases tapered, margins subentire to dentate (denticles callous; mid and distal leaves bractlike, clasping).

Ray florets

(± 5) ± 8 (± 13);

corolla laminae 8–10(–15) mm.

Phyllaries

(± 8) ± 13 (± 21), 4–7 mm, tips black.

Calyculi

of 2–5 linear bractlets (1–2 mm).

Heads

(2–)7–12(–20+) in corymbiform arrays.

Cypselae

glabrous.

2n

= 40, 80.

Senecio lugens

Phenology Flowering summer.
Habitat Moist meadows, gravelly streambeds, open woods in alpine or boreal sites
Elevation 200–2500 m (700–8200 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AK; MT; WA; WY; AB; BC; NT; YT
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Senecio lugens varies greatly in robustness across its range. It is scattered widely in the Rocky Mountain uplift and adjacent regions from northern Wyoming to Alaska; it is disjunct in the Olympic Peninsula, Washington. Superficially similar to S. integerrimus, S. lugens has well-developed, coarse, spreading rootstocks with branching roots; S. integerrimus arises from foreshortened, buttonlike caudices with abundant unbranched, fleshy-fibrous roots.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Source FNA vol. 20, p. 554.
Parent taxa Asteraceae > tribe Senecioneae > Senecio
Sibling taxa
S. actinella, S. amplectens, S. ampullaceus, S. aphanactis, S. arizonicus, S. aronicoides, S. astephanus, S. atratus, S. bigelovii, S. blochmaniae, S. californicus, S. cannabifolius, S. clarkianus, S. crassulus, S. elegans, S. elmeri, S. eremophilus, S. ertterae, S. erucifolius, S. flaccidus, S. fremontii, S. hydrophiloides, S. hydrophilus, S. integerrimus, S. jacobaea, S. lemmonii, S. lyonii, S. megacephalus, S. mohavensis, S. multidentatus, S. neowebsteri, S. parryi, S. pattersonensis, S. pseudoarnica, S. pudicus, S. quaylei, S. rapifolius, S. riddellii, S. sacramentanus, S. scorzonella, S. serra, S. sheldonensis, S. soldanella, S. spartioides, S. sphaerocephalus, S. spribillei, S. squalidus, S. sylvaticus, S. taraxacoides, S. triangularis, S. viscosus, S. vulgaris, S. warnockii, S. wootonii
Synonyms S. glaucescens, S. imbricatus, S. integerrimus var. lugens
Name authority Richardson: in J. Franklin et al., Narr. Journey Polar Sea, 748. (1823)
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