Foothills, montane. Woodlands, openings. Summer.
Lone Mesa State Park, July 2, 2008.

Packera oodes has a growth habit similar to that of the very common P. neomexicana and it is easy to pass it by not realizing that it is a different species.  The basal leaves of P. oodes are, in Weber's words, "oval or cordate on long, slender petioles, regularly crenate"; the basal leaves of P. neomexicana are "narrower on winged petioles, irregularly toothed, lobed, or entire".

The taxonomic history of this plant is a bit convoluted.  Apparently Thomas Nuttall was the first to collect it, in Oregon, probably in the mid-1830s.  He named the plant Senecio cymbalarioides in 1841 and the plant went through a number of name changes in the next 150 years.  Edward Greene named it Senecio streptanthifolius in 1895 and Weber named it Packera streptanthifolia in 1981 but, according to Intermountain Flora, changed the name in 1984 to Packera oodes following Per Axel Rydberg's 1906 name of Senecio oodes.  Weber, however, indicates that he did not change the name as Intermountain Flora indicates; instead he maintains that there are two distinct species, P. streptanthifolia and P. oodes, differing primarily in their pubescence and the shape of their basal leaves.  John Kartesz indicates that Weber's two species are actually just one, P. streptanthifolia.

"Oodes" is Greek for "egg-shaped".

Foothills, montane. Woodlands, openings. Summer.
Lone Mesa State Park, July 2, 2008.