Senecio covillei Greene; S. covillei var. scorzonella (Greene) Jepson

Perennials, 10–40(–50) cm (rhizomes stout). Herbage closely lanate to floccose-tomentose, unevenly glabrescent. Stems usually single, rarely clustered. Leaves reduced distally; obscurely petiolate; blades oblanceolate to lanceolate, (4–)6–12+ × (1–)1.5–3 cm, bases tapering to winged petioles, margins dentate to denticulate (denticles dark, cartilaginous; mid and distal leaves smaller, bractlike). Heads (10–)14–24(–30+) in corymbiform arrays. Calyculi 0 or of 1–3+ lance-deltate to lance-linear bractlets (mostly less than 1 mm). Phyllaries ± 13, 3–5 mm, tips usually black. Ray florets usually ± 5, sometimes 0; corolla laminae 5–8(–10) mm. Cypselae glabrous.

Flowering summer. Open wooded areas and subalpine meadows; 1600–3500 m; Calif., Nev.

Senecio scorzonella is restricted to high elevations in the Sierra Nevada–Cascade uplift and the White Mountains of California; it barely enters adjacent Nevada.