WILDFLOWERS OF NEW MEXICO

Hairless stems, single or clustered, reach 19-inches tall with loose clusters of 2–20 yellow flower heads. Note the thick basal leaf blades are oval to spatulate-shaped with long, non-clasping, stems (petioles), and stem leaves are few, clasping, and get smaller up the stem.

FLOWER: May–August. Loose arrays of 2–20+ flower heads with 8 or 13 yellow ray flowers 3/16–1/2-inch long (5–12 mm); disk flowers yellow; 13 or 21 green phyllaries (below rays) in single row, hairless, tips sometimes reddish.

LEAVES: Basal and alternate on stem, hairless. Basal leaves thick, spatula-shaped with petioles (stems) to 8-inches long (20 cm); blades, 3/4–1 1/2-inches long (2–4 cm), oval to elliptic, edges entire (smooth) to shallowly toothed or lobed. Note the basal leaves are not sheathing at the base. Stem leaves are few and becoming smaller and stemless (sessile) up the stem, margins entire or with a few small, rounded teeth.

HABITAT: Dry to damp sandy, rocky, loamy soils; ponderosa/white pine-oak, spruce forests.

ELEVATION: 6,800–11,000 feet.

RANGE:  AK, CA, CO, ID, MT, NM, NV, OR, UT, WA, WY.

SIMILAR SPECIES: Wooton’s Ragwort, Senecio wootenii, in much the same range, has thick basal leaves that sheath the stem. New Mexico Ragwort, P. neomexicana var. neomexicana in western NM, has egg-shaped basal leaves with even teeth and a hairy stem.

NM COUNTIES: Northern and western mountains of NM in mid- to high-elevation habitats: Catron, Cibola, Colfax, Los Alamos, Rio Arriba, Sandoval, San Miguel, Santa Fe, Sierra, Socorro, Taos, Union.