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See more Packera.

Click to see how Packera is distinguished from Senecio.

Packera pseudaurea
Packera pseudaurea. Synonym: Senecio pseudaureus. (Streambank Groundsel, Streambank Ragwort)
Asteraceae (Sunflower Family)

Montane. Moist meadows, woodlands, streamsides. Summer.
Haviland Lake, June 17, 2009.

Packera pseudaurea is not common in the Four Corners area, but it is occasionally found along moist trails and in moist meadows.  Leaves are mostly basal with long thin petioles and shallow lobes or serrations.  The leaves at left have four inch long leaf petioles and the largest leaves are 1 1/2 inches long and almost 3/4 inch wide.  (See below for stem leaves.)  Flowers are on long stems (to 20 inches).  The plant can spread from its roots and occasionally one will find many plants giving a golden glow to meadows.

This plant was at first named Senecio pseudaureus by Rydberg in 1897 from a specimen collected in Montana.  In 1981 Weber and Löve removed a number of species from the Senecio genus and placed them in a new genus, Packera, saying they were honoring John Packer, "an old-time friend who has contributed much to the clarification of the status of the arctic-alpine North American members of the taxon". John Packer was a Canadian botanist.  (More biographical information about Packer.) "Pseudo" is Greek for "false" and "aurea" is Latin for "gold".

Packera pseudaurea
Packera pseudaurea.  Synonym: Senecio pseudaureus.(Streambank Groundsel, Streambank Ragwort)
Asteraceae (Sunflower Family)

Montane. Moist meadows, woodlands, streamsides. Summer.
Haviland Lake, June 17, 2009.

Packera pseudaurea
Packera pseudaurea.  Synonym: Senecio pseudaureus.(Streambank Groundsel, Streambank Ragwort)
Asteraceae (Sunflower Family)

Montane. Moist meadows, woodlands, streamsides. Summer.
Haviland Lake, June 17, 2009.

Packera pseudarurea
Packera pseudaurea.  Synonym: Senecio pseudaureus.(Streambank Groundsel, Streambank Ragwort)
Asteraceae (Sunflower Family)

Montane. Moist meadows, woodlands, streamsides. Summer.
Haviland Lake, June 17, 2009.

Stem leaves on P. pseudaurea are almost always quite different from basal leaves, a growth pattern common to a number of Packera.  They are long (to two inches), narrow, serrated, and they clasp the stem.  Notice that the stem and leaves are nearly glabrous with just a few fine hairs and it is this glabrous condition that separates this species from the very similar Packera streptanthifolia.

Range map © John Kartesz,
Floristic Synthesis of North America

State Color Key

Species present in state and native
Species present in state and exotic
Species not present in state

County Color Key

Species present and not rare
Species present and rare
Species extirpated (historic)
Species extinct
Species noxious
Species exotic and present
Native species, but adventive in state
Eradicated
Questionable presence

Range map for Packera pseudaurea