Packera castoreus

Packera castoreus

Critically Imperiled  (NatureServe)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Eudicots
(unranked): Asterids
Order: Asterales
Family: Asteraceae
Subfamily: Asteroideae
Tribe: Senecioneae
Genus: Packera
Species: P. castoreus
Binomial name
Packera castoreus
(S.L. Welsh) Kartesz
Synonyms

Senecio castoreus

Packera castoreus is a rare species of flowering plant in the aster family known by the common names Beaver Mountain groundsel and Beaver Mountain ragwort. It is endemic to Utah in the United States, where it occurs only in the Tushar Mountains.[1]

This small alpine plant grows just a few centimeters tall with one or more woolly stems. The lower leaves have blades one or two centimeters long with woolly undersides. The flower heads have purple-green, woolly phyllaries and no ray florets.[2]

There are about 7 to 10 known occurrences of this plant on the high slopes of the Tushar Mountains of central Utah, mostly within the Fishlake National Forest. It occurs on Mt. Belknap and Gold Mountain, and probably other peaks. It grows on barren talus on windy, exposed mountain slopes in alpine tundra habitat above the tree line. Other plants in the sparsely vegetated habitat include sky pilot (Polemonium viscosum), Mt. Belknap draba (Draba ramulosa), and various grasses.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 Packera castoreus. The Nature Conservancy.
  2. Packera castoreus. Flora of North America.

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Thursday, January 17, 2013. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.