Species: Packera pauciflora (Pursh) A. & D. Löve

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Packera pauciflora (Pursh) A. & D. Löve

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TAXONOMY

Family:

Asteraceae or Compositae

Genus:

Packera

Species Synonyms:

Senecio discoideus (Hook.) Britt.
Senecio pauciflorus Pursh

Common Names:

alpine groundsel
few-flowered ragwort

DISTRIBUTION

Canada:

Yukon Territory – Mackenzie District – northern Saskatchewan, Manitoba – Labrador – southern British Columbia, southwestern Alberta, Manitoba – Newfoundland

Saskatchewan:

northern Saskatchewan; Hasbala Lake

Ecoregion:

Selwyn Lake Upland

HABITAT

Saskatchewan:

boulder fields and cliffs

Associated Species:

Betula nana, Picea mariana

RARITY STATUS

Provincial Status According
to Harms (2003):

Threatened

Nature Conservancy Status:

G4G5 SR

Saskatchewan Species at
Risk Status:

None

COSEWIC Status:

None

Packera pauciflora is threatened due to extreme rarity and restriction to one region of the province. There is little information available on this species in Saskatchewan and may be ranked otherwise upon collection of additional data.

SPECIES DESCRIPTION

Height:

10 – 50 cm

Roots:

fibrous

Stems:

perennial, solitary, thin, glabrous

Leaves:

basal and cauline; basal leaves with slender petioles, 5 – 10 cm long, 1 – 2 cm wide, oval or oblong, base rounded to cuneate to cordate, glabrous, thick, fleshy, margin dentate to serrate; cauline leaves few, petiolate to sessile upwards, lanceolate to oblanceolate, glabrous, thick, fleshy, toothed to pinnately lobed or divided upwards

Inflorescence:

heads 2 – 5 in corymbiform array, 0.5 cm wide; phyllaries in one series, 1 – 2 mm wide, green with purple tips, glabrous; receptacle smooth

Flowers:

ligulate florets nearly always lacking; disc florets red-orange

Fruits:

achenes 3 – 3.5 mm long, plump, dark red-brown, glabrous

*KEY TO PACKERA* IN SASKATCHEWAN**
Note: This complex needs taxonomic revision. The key may not be accurate in all cases. Please refer to another key if you encounter difficulty with this one.

1 Plants usually glabrose or glabrate; basal leaves usually entire or dentate, not lobed	2
1 Plants usually tomentose (sometime glabrous) and/ or with basal leaves; basal leaves if present pinnately lobed or dissected	8

2 Ray florets 0 or 8 – 13 (corolla 2 – 7 mm long); plants of northern Saskatchewan	3
2 Ray florets 0 or 5 – 21 (corolla 4 – 12 mm long); plants from various areas of Saskatchewan	4

3 Basal leaves thick; heads few (1-4); involucre purple or at least purple-tipped	P. pauciflora
3 Basal leaves thin; head numerous (8 – 20); involucre green	P. indecora

4 Basal and lower cauline leaves not tapering to petiole, base truncate to cordate	5
4 Basal and lower cauline leaves gradually tapering to petiole	6

5 Basal leaves lanceolate to narrowly ovate, apex acute; margins dentate or serrate	P. pseudaurea
5 Basal leaves cordate, obovate, or ovate, apex rounded; margins crenate, dentate, lobed or wavy	P. streptanthifolia

6 Plants with a taproots and woody caudex; may be tomentose in leaf axils	P. tridenticulata
6 Plants with fibrous roots, taproots or rhizomes; leaves and stems generally all glabrous	7

7 Basal leaves thick, oblanceolate to spatulate; disc florets 35 – 60	P. streptanthifolia
7 Basal leaves thin, lanceolate to elliptic; disc florets 50 – 80	P. paupercula

8 Stems and leaves persistently tomentose	P. plattensis
8 Stems and leaves usually glabrous, sometimes tomentose at base or in leaf axils	9

9 Plants 3 – 10 cm tall; heads few (1-6)	P. cana
9 Plants 10 – 50 cm tall; heads several (6 – 30)	10

10 Basal leaves orbicular to broadly ovate	11
10 Basal leaves narrowly elliptic to oblanceolate	12

11 Margins of basal leaves entire to toothed; involucre glabrous	P. streptanthifolia
11 Margins of basal leaves toothed to pinnatisect; involucre densely tomentose	P. plattensis

12 Basal leaves toothed to lobed, floccose tomentose to glabrescent	P. plattensis
12 Basal leaves entire, except towards dentate apex, white woolly	P. cana