Senecio cernuus A. Gray, Amer. J. Sci. Arts, ser. 2, 33: 239. 1862, not Linnaeus f. 1782; Ligularia pudica (Greene) W. A. Weber

Perennials or biennials (possibly winter annuals), 50–80 cm (caudices fibrous-rooted). Herbage glabrous. Stems usually single, sometimes loosely clustered. Leaves progressively reduced distally; petiolate; blades narrowly lanceolate to oblanceolate, 8–15(–20+) × (0.5–)1–3(–4) cm, bases tapered, margins entire or dentate (mid and distal leaves sessile, bractlike). Heads nodding, (3–)8–16(–40+) in racemiform or paniculiform arrays. Calyculi of 2–6 lance-linear bractlets. Phyllaries usually ± 13, rarely ± 8, 5–9 mm, tips green. Ray florets 0. Cypselae glabrous.

Flowering summer–early autumn. Rocky, damp or drying hillsides, often coniferous and aspen woodlands; 2400–3800 m; Colo., N.Mex., Utah.