WILDFLOWERS OF NEW MEXICO

Single to multiple stems 15–31-inches tall, with or without hairs, are topped with distinctively nodding flower heads with no showy petal-like ray flowers. Note the alternate, serrated, lance-shaped leaves.

FLOWERS: July–September. Terminal array of 3–12 nodding flower heads with no ray flowers and a disk of yellow disk flowers; 13 or 21 phyllaries depending on variety.

LEAVES: Alternate. Blades lance-shaped to oval, 2 3/4–6-inches long (7–15 cm), progressively smaller upward, mid and upper blades stemless, often clasping, margins entire, serrated to toothed.

HABITAT: Moist sandy, gravelly soils, meadows, streambanks, open areas; pine-spruce-fir forests.

ELEVATION: 6,000–11,500 feet.

RANGE: AZ, CO, NM, UT, WY.

SIMILAR SPECIES: About 22 species of Senecio in NM, only 2 with nodding flower heads and no ray flowers: Sacramento Groundsel. S. sacramentanus, endemic to the Sacramento and White mountains, has 8–13 phyllaries.

NM COUNTIES: Statewide in mountains in mid- to high-elevation, moist habitats; Bernalillo, Catron, Cibola, Colfax, Grant, Lincoln, Los Alamos, Luna, Mora, Otero, Rio Arriba, San Juan, San Miguel, Santa Fe, Sandoval, Sierra, Taos, Torrance,  Valencia.