Gander’s ragwort

Senecio ganderi T. M. Barkley & R. M. Beauchamp, Brittonia 26: 106, fig. 1. 1974

Perennials, 30–80+ cm; fibrous-rooted (bases weakly spreading). Stems 1, glabrous or bases hairy. Basal leaves (and proximal cauline, relatively turgid or leathery) petiolate; blades reniform to suborbiculate, 40–70+ × 40–80+ mm, bases truncate to cordate, margins dentate or shallowly lobed. Cauline leaves abruptly reduced (petiolate or sessile, oblanceolate, pinnatifid; distal sessile, bractlike). Heads 3–6+ in compact, cymiform arrays. Peduncles ebracteate (or bractlets 1–2), glabrous. Calyculi 0 or inconspicuous. Phyllaries (13–)21, dark green with yellow margins, 8–11+ mm, glabrous. Ray florets 13 or 21; corolla laminae 10–12+ mm. Disc florets 40–60+; corolla tubes 3–4 mm, limbs 2.5–3.5 mm. Cypselae 5–6 mm, glabrous; pappi 5–7 mm.

Flowering mid Apr–late May. Recently burned chaparral on mountain slopes, gabbroic soils; of conservation concern; 700–1100 m; Calif.

Packera ganderi is known only from the mountain ranges of San Diego County, where it has been collected from three sites.