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Mono ragwort, Mount Patterson senecio

stout meadow groundsel, sweet marsh ragwort, sweet-marsh butterweed, tall groundsel

Habit Perennials, to 10 cm (rhizomes branching). Perennials (biennials?), 30–100(–140) cm (caudices erect, roots fleshy-fibrous).
Herbage

(sometimes reddish-tinged, especially proximally) glabrous.

usually glabrous or glabrescent (young plants sparsely tomentose).

Stems

1–3 (arching upward).

usually single, sometimes 2–4 clustered (sometimes reddish-tinged).

Leaves

evenly distributed (proximal often withering before flowering); obscurely petiolate or sessile;

blades oblanceolate to lance-linear (sometimes with 1–2 lateral lobes), 2–4 cm × 3–5 mm, bases subdecurrent, weakly clasping, margins entire or wavy (often revolute).

progressively reduced distally; usually petiolate (petioles often winged);

blades elliptic to broadly lanceolate, 5–15(–20) × 2–7 cm, bases broadly to narrowly tapered, margins dentate to denticulate (distal leaves sessile, bractlike).

Ray florets

± 8;

corolla laminae 5–10 mm.

0 or (± 3 or 5) ± 8;

corolla laminae 5–10 mm.

Phyllaries

± 13, 5–7(–8) mm.

(± 8) ± 13 (± 21), 4–9 mm, tips (minutely to prominently) black.

Calyculi

of 3–5+ (inconspicuous) bractlets.

of 2–5 bractlets (less than 2 mm).

Heads

1(–4).

(6–)15–30+ in congested or loose, corymbiform arrays.

Cypselae

glabrous.

glabrous.

2n

= 40.

Senecio pattersonensis

Senecio hydrophiloides

Phenology Flowering summer. Flowering spring–early summer.
Habitat Talus slopes Damp hillsides, non-alkaline meadows, seepage sites
Elevation 3000–3700 m (9800–12100 ft) 1200–2200 m (3900–7200 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
CA; NV
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
CA; ID; MT; NV; OR; UT; WA; WY; AB; BC
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Of conservation concern.

Senecio pattersonensis has the aspect of a depauperate S. fremontii with notably narrow leaves. Some plants in collections appear to be intergrades with S. spartioides.

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

Plants of Senecio hydrophiloides from toward the western end of the range tend to have the heads more or less congested and eradiate and stems loosely clustered; plants from toward the eastern edge tend to have heads loosely arrayed and radiate and stems single. The two forms have been recognized as weakly defined species (or varieties), the former as Senecio foetidus and the latter as S. hydrophiloides. They intergrade so completely that they are best treated as a single, variable taxon. The use of the epithet foetidus for the broadly conceived single species was based on a bibliographic misunderstanding; the correct epithet is hydrophiloides (T. M. Barkley 1978; A. Cronquist 1994).

In 1900, Thomas Howell gave the name Senecio oreganus to a collection from Lake Labish, near Salem, Oregon. The area has seen much disturbance and development since Howell’s time, and the plant appears to be extinct in the region. The collection is difficult to exclude from S. hydrophiloides, and the collection is here regarded as an odd outlier of S. hydrophiloides, which is known chiefly from east of the Cascade uplift. Howell’s collection and therefore the name S. oreganus also have been treated within S. sphaerocephalus (T. M. Barkley 1978; A. Cronquist 1955); that attribution appears to be in error. The “type” materials are now in the herbarium of Oregon State University in Corvallis.

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

Source FNA vol. 20, p. 564. FNA vol. 20, p. 558.
Parent taxa Asteraceae > tribe Senecioneae > Senecio 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. lugens, S. lyonii, S. megacephalus, S. mohavensis, S. multidentatus, S. neowebsteri, S. parryi, 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
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. hydrophilus, S. integerrimus, S. jacobaea, S. lemmonii, S. lugens, 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. revolutus S. foetidus, S. foetidus var. hydrophiloides, S. oreganus
Name authority Hoover: Leafl. W. Bot. 5: 60. (1947) Rydberg: Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 1: 441. (1900)
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