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Species Image Gallery (opens in a new window) |
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| THE SUNFLOWER FAMILY | |||||||||
| The sunflowers are found around the
globe in many different places, from temperate climates, like in Saskatchewan,
to mountains or in dry regions. The sunflower family is very large and contains
about 19,000 species! As you can imagine, the plants in this family can
look very different from one another. The sunflowers can be shrubs or herbs,
with many different leaf shapes and flower colours. One thing that is common
to all sunflowers is the type of flower arrangement. In this family, there
are many flowers grouped together into a head, like the one you see on a
daisy. It looks like one flower from a distance, but when you get close
you will see that it is actually made up of many, small flowers. The head
may have ray flowers on the outside and disc flowers on the inside, or only
one of the two kinds. Many of the seeds, like the dandelion, have a fluffy
structure attached to the seed. This is called the pappus and helps the
seeds to spread in the wind. You probably know a lot of plants in the sunflower family. Sunflowers can be plants you eat or plants that you may grow in the yard. For example, did you know that lettuce is from the sunflower family? So are the marigolds in the garden! Maybe you have heard of Echinacea? It is a plant in the sunflower family that is used to make medicine. Some of the sunflowers are also weeds, like the dandelion. |
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| ALPINE GROUNDSEL | |||||||||
| LATIN NAME: Packera pauciflora | |||||||||
| WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE? | |||||||||
| Alpine groundsel is 10 to 50 cm tall. This aster has fibrous roots and solitary stems. The basal leaves are long-stalked, and thick fleshy with toothed margins. The stem leaves are smaller farther up the stem and are also thick and fleshy. The stem leaves become divided up the stem. The heads are in clusters of two to five and are about 0.5 cm wide. The bracts are green with purple tips and are without hairs. The ray flowers are almost always missing and the disc flowers are red-orange. | |||||||||
| WHERE DOES IT GROW? | |||||||||
| Alpine groundsel grows on cliffs or in boulder fields. | |||||||||
| WHERE IS IT FOUND IN SASKATCHEWAN? | |||||||||
| This plant is found in northern Saskatchewan in the Selwyn Lake Upland. | |||||||||
| WHY IS IT RARE? | |||||||||
| There is very little information on alpine groundsel in Saskatchewan. It has only been collected in one location in the province. | |||||||||
| HOW TO IDENTIFY ALPINE GROUNDSEL | |||||||||
| * Are rays absent? * Are the leaves thick and a little fleshy? * Are the disc flowers red-orange? * Did you find it northern Saskatchewan? | |||||||||
| If you answered yes to all of these questions, you may have found alpine groundsel! | |||||||||
