WILDFLOWERS OF NEW MEXICO

The single or clustered stems, 8–20-inches tall, can be woolly hairy to nearly hairless with a basal rosette of lance-shaped, egg-shaped, or spoon-shaped leaves (depending on variety). Numerous yellow flower heads bloom on long stems in a nearly flat-topped array. Note the basal leaves of the two widespread varieties: var. mutabilis has narrow, lance-shaped leaves while var. neomexicana has egg-shaped basal leaf blades. This highly variable species has three varieties  on NM and can hybridize with other Packera species.

FLOWERS: April–July. Clusters have 3–20 flower heads, each head has 8–13 yellow ray flowers, each ray to 3/8-inch long (10 mm), around a yellow disk; 13 or 21 phyllaries beneath the flower are equal length, in one row, and woolly to hairless.

LEAVES: Basal rosette and alternate on stem. Basal leaves lance-shaped, egg-shaped, or spoon-shaped; blades 3/4–2 3/8-inches long (2–6 cm), with margins entire, toothed, or lobed along midrib depending on variety. Stem leaves get smaller toward the top; blades lance-shaped or egg-shaped with rounded tips; margins smooth, toothed or lobed. Leaves, especially on the bottomside, are woolly but thinning with age.

HABITAT: Sandy, gravelly soils, meadows, forest openings, roadsides, disturbed areas, pinyon-juniper, ponderosa forests.

ELEVATION: 5,500–10,000 feet.

RANGE: AZ CO, NM, UT, TX.

SIMILAR SPECIES / VARIETIES: 3 varieties of P. newmexicana in NM: var. mutabilis has 1–3 loosely hairy to hairless stems, and narrowly lance-shaped basal leaves, entire to irregularly toothed, and well-developed stem leaves; var. neomexicana has a single densely hairy stem, egg-shaped basal leaf blades with toothed margins, and well-developed stem leaves; while var. toumeyi, in the Bootheel, has a single stem, egg-shaped, irregularly toothed basal leaves, and inconspicuous stem leaves. Packera was previously included with Senecio and often still lumped together in keys; about 47 combined species plus subspecies and varieties in NM.

NM COUNTIES: Throughout mountains of NM at mid- to high-elevation habitats: Bernalillo, Catron, Cibola, Colfax, Dona Ana, Eddy, Grant, Hidalgo, Lincoln, Los Alamos, Luna, McKinley, Otero, Rio Arriba, San Juan, San Miguel, Sandoval, Santa Fe, Sierra, Socorro, Taos, Torrance, Union, Valencia.