Senecio integerrimus Nutt.
western groundsel (lambstongue ragwort)
Asteraceae (Aster family)

Introduction to Vascular Plants

Photograph

© Gordon Neish     (Photo ID #20119)

Map

E-Flora BC Static Map

Distribution of Senecio integerrimus
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Species Information

General:
Perennial herb from a fibrous-rooted, short, erect woody stem-base; stems erect, solitary, branched above, sparsely to densely woolly-hairy, 20-70 cm tall.
Leaves:
Basal leaves thick, somewhat succulent, narrowly oblanceolate to elliptic or nearly round, stalked, 6-25 cm long including the stalk, 1-6 cm wide, entire or sometimes iregularly toothed, hairy when young becoming less so with age; stem leaves similar, progressively reduced upwards, becoming unstalked.
Flowers:
Heads with ray and disk flowers, several to numerous in a compact inflorescence; involucres 5-10 mm tall; involucral bracts lanceolate, hairless to moderately long-hairy, usually conspicuously black-tipped; bracteoles few, black-tipped; ray flowers yellow, rarely white or creamy; disk flowers yellow.
Fruits:
Achenes oblong, ribbed, glabrous or coarse-hairy; pappus of white hairlike bristles.
Notes:
Two poorly-defined varieties occur in BC. The var. ochroleucus has not been collected in BC since 1897.

1. Ray flowers white.............. var. ochroleucus (A. Gray) Cronq.

1. Ray flowers yellow................... var. exaltatus (Nutt.) Cronq.

Source:  The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia

USDA Species Characteristics

Flower Colour:
Yellow
Blooming Period:
Mid Spring
Fruit/Seed characteristics:
Colour: Brown
Present over the Summer
Source:  The USDA

Ecology

Ecological Framework for Senecio integerrimus

The table below shows the species-specific information calculated from
original data (BEC database) provided by the BC Ministry of Forests and Range.
(Updated August, 2013)

Site Information
 Value / Class

Avg

Min

Max
Elevation (metres)
 1507 35 2541
Slope Gradient (%)
 28 0 90

Aspect (degrees)
[0 - N; 90 - E; 180 - S; 270 - W]

 194 22 350
Soil Moisture Regime (SMR)
[0 - very xeric; 4 - mesic;
8 - hydric] 		2 0 7
Modal Nutrient Regime
Class
 C
# of field plots
 species was recorded in:
 131
Modal BEC Zone Class
 ESSF

All BEC Zones (# of stations/zone) species was recorded in

 AT(5), BG(3), CMA(1), CWH(3), ESSF(55), ICH(12), IDF(15), IMA(2), MS(21), PP(6), SBS(3)

Habitat and Range

Moist to dry grasslands, shrublands, forest openings and meadows in the steppe to lower subalpine zones; var. integerrimus common in S BC in and E of the Coast-Cascade Mountains, var. ochroleucus rare in SC and SE BC; E to SK and MN and S to CA.

Source:  The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia

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