3. Packera obovata (Muhl. ex Willd.) W.A. Weber & Á. Löve (roundleaf groundsel, squaw weed)
Senecio
obovatus Muhl. ex Willd.
S. obovatus var. umbratilis Greenm.
Pl. 298 g, h;
Map 1253
Plants
perennial, from a short, relatively slender, erect to horizontal rootstock, often
branched and producing well-developed, slender stolons. Stems mostly 1,
occasionally 2 or 3, 20–70 cm long, often pubescent with dense, felty hairs in
the axils of the basal leaves, the portion above the base thinly pubescent to
glabrous, but sometimes with cobwebby patches of dense hairs in the leaf axils.
Basal leaves usually present at flowering, long-petiolate, the petioles
glabrous or sparsely hairy above the woolly or cobwebby base, the blades 1–8(–14)
cm long, unlobed or less commonly with few to several narrow, irregular lobes
toward the base, narrowly obovate to oblanceolate, oblong-ovate, or nearly
circular, tapered to truncate or slightly cordate at the base, the tissue
extending along most of the petiole as a pair of narrow wings, usually rounded
at the tip, the margins scalloped or more commonly with blunt to sharp,
sometimes irregular teeth, the undersurface usually glabrous, sometimes
sparsely hairy, the upper surface glabrous. Stem leaves gradually reduced
toward the stem tip, sessile or nearly so, the blades mostly shallowly to
deeply pinnately lobed, sometimes irregularly so, the margins otherwise
relatively sharply toothed, the surfaces glabrous except sometimes the
lowermost leaves with patches of dense, cobwebby hairs at the very base.
Involucre 4–7 mm long, glabrous or somewhat cobwebby-hairy near the base. Ray
florets usually 7–13, the lobe 5–10 mm long. Fruits 2.5–3.0 mm long, glabrous
or hairy along the ribs. 2n=44. April–June.
Scattered nearly
throughout the state, but apparently absent from the Mississippi Lowlands
Division and portions of the Glaciated Plains (eastern U.S. west to Illinois,
Kansas, and Texas; Canada). Bottomland forests, mesic upland forests, banks of
streams, ledges of bluffs, and rarely moist depressions of glades and upland
prairies; also roadsides and open, disturbed areas.