Al Schneider's Rocky Mountains Plant Descriptions

Tall Ragwort
Senecio serra
Aster family (Asteraceae)

Tall and in an open airy pattern, this Senecio likes moist and woods and openings. The plant has long, narrow, tapering, finely (thus, "serra") leaves. Extensive patches are quite common. Triangleleaf Groundsel (Senecio triangularis) is very similar to Senecio in its wet habitat, height, general shape, and flower color and shape.

David Douglas (of Douglas Fir fame) first collected this plant "common on the banks of the Wallawallah, Flathead, and Spokan Rivers." The plant was named by William Hooker in his "Flora Boreali-Americana" in 1834. "Senecio" is from the Latin, "senes," "old man," and refers to the hairs, the white, tiny, hair-like growth at the of the seeds in Asteraceae.


©2010 Barry Breckling

Description

plants with rootstocks. Stems 2-4", upright, branching near , about equally leafy to , or sparingly hairy. Leaves 2 to 6" long, or , narrow, sharply finely , or lower short-petioled. Flowerheads about 1/2" long and about 1/4" wide, not nodding, usually many in cluster. cylindric with thickened on back and near base, . about 1/3" long, light yellow. an .

Field Marks

Tall lanky plant with leafy stem of finely leaves topped by cluster of yellow flowers.

© Al Schneider

A perennial plant lives and blooms for many years.

The apex is the tip or the furthest point from the attachment.

subalpine -- Just below the timberline.

ray flowers -- The outer petals of a sunflower or daisy are ray flowers.

serrate -- toothed with asymmetrical teeth pointing forward; like the cutting edge of a saw.

Bracts are modified leaves associated with a flower.

Involucre is the name given to the circle or spiral collection of bracts around a flower-cluster.

pappus -- Small scales, bristles or hairs at the top of the seed in Asteraceae. For example, dandelion parachutes. Plural: pappi.

achene -- a type of simple dry fruit produced by many species of flowering plants. For example, a rose hip holds a few achenes.

linear -- Long and very narrow like a blade of grass.

fruit -- any seed-bearing structure in flowering plants. It is formed from the ovary after flowering.

sessile -- attached without a stalk. For example, a leaf that clasps the stalk. A petiolate leaf has a stalk.

montane -- inhabiting mountainous country but below timberline.

glabrous -- smooth, glossy, having no bristles or hair-like structures. Bald.

lanceolate -- Lance-shaped. Long, wider in the middle.

An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem.