WILDFLOWERS OF NEW MEXICO

The 1–3 erect, hairless, branching stems to 20-inches tall bear clusters of 15–40 erect (not nodding), yellow flower heads. Note the basal and stem leaves with 2–3 pairs of oval, fan-shaped lobes along the midrib, and often with woolly hairs in the leaf axils.

FLOWERS: July–September. 3–8 spreading clusters on branch tips, each with 2–6 flower heads with 8 narrow, petal-like ray flowers, 1/4–1/2-inch long (6–12 mm), surrounding a yellow disk; 13 phyllaries cupping the petals are equal length, bright green, with light-green to yellowish (not brown) tips.

LEAVES: Basal and stem leaves present. Blades 2 3/8–4 3/4-inches long (6–12 cm), with 2–3  pairs of fan-shaped to oval, toothed lobes along the midrib, basal leaves with a larger terminal lobe; lower leaves with stems, upper stemless (sessile) or clasping and becoming smaller us the stem; surfaces without hair, though hair tufts often in stem leaf axils.

HABITAT: Moist gravelly, loamy soils; ponderosa-aspen, spruce-fir forests, subalpine meadows.

ELEVATION: 5,900–11,300 feet.

RANGE: NM. Endemic to San Juan, Sangre de Cristo, Sandia, Sacramento mountains.

SIMILAR SPECIES: In similar habitats, Notchleaf Ragwort, P. fendleri, has evenly notched, hairy leaves. Lobeleaf Ragwort, P. mulltilobata, in northern NM, has multiple stems, hairless foliage, leaves with equal lateral and terminal lobes, and 8–13 ray flowers. Cutleaf Groundsel, Senecio eremophilus, has hairless foliage with even-sized leaves up the stem and basal leaves that wither by blooming.

NM COUNTIES: Mountains of NM in mid- to high-elevation, moist habitats: Bernalillo, Colfax, Lincoln, Mora, Otero, Rio Arriba, San Juan, San Miguel, Santa Fe, Taos.