Elegant groundsel

Senecio indecorus Greene, Fl. Francisc., 470. 1897; S. burkei Greenman; S. idahoensis Rydberg; S. pauciflorus Pursh subsp. fallax Greenman

Perennials, 10–100 cm; taprooted (caudices erect to suberect, relatively stout, branched). Stems 1 or 2–3, loosely clustered, glabrous or glabrate. Basal leaves 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. Cauline leaves gradually reduced (petiolate, resembling basals, sublyrate or dissected; distal sessile, subentire to pinnatifid). Heads 8–20+ in subumbelliform arrays. Peduncles ebracteate (or bractlets inconspicuous), glabrous or glabrate. Calyculi conspicuous (bractlets green, tips sometimes reddish). Phyllaries 13 or 21, green (tips sometimes reddish), 7–9 mm, glabrous. Ray florets 0 or 8–10; corolla laminae (deep yellow) 3–5 mm. Disc florets 60–70+; corolla tubes 2–3 mm, limbs 2.5–3.5 mm. Cypselae 1–2 mm, glabrous; pappi 3–4 mm. 2n = 46, 126, 176, 184.

Flowering mid Jun–late Aug. Damp meadows, along streams, wet woodlands; 0–2300 m; Alta., B.C., Man., Nfld. and Labr. (Labr.), N.W.T., Nunavut, Ont., Que., Sask., Yukon; Alaska, Calif., Idaho, Mich., Minn., Mont., Wash., Wyo.

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.