(small blacktip ragwort)
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Photo of Senecio lugens by Carl Roland
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Senecio lugens is a member of the aster family (Asteraceae) with several yellow flowering heads and large basal leaves.
Senecio lugens occurs across a wide area of Denali and is most common in subalpine meadows and floodplains near the mountains. Plants grow 5-35 cm tall stem arising from a thick
rhizome. Basal leaves are highly variable: they are sessile (have no
petiole), usually
oblanceolate to
elliptic in outline, hairless to sparsely hairy, with
entire or finely
toothed margins. Stem leaves are reduced. The flowering heads (2-12 per plant) are arranged in a branched
inflorescence (
corymb-like). The
ray flower petals (
ligules) are yellow, with
involucral bracts below the blossom arranged in two rows, and having distinctive black or purplish tips (which is one good way to recognize this species, in combination with the multiple flowering heads and
sessile basal leaves).
Senecio lugens produces
glabrous achenes.
Senecio lugens typically flowers mid to late-summer.
S. lugens is
monoecious and insect pollinated. Seeds have an attached tuft of hairs and are wind dispersed.
Senecio lugens occurs only in North America, ranging from Alaska east into western Northwest Territory, and south through British Columbia and Alberta into Washington, Montana, and Wyoming. In Alaska, this species grows in suitable habitat statewide, except is absent from the southern Alaska Peninsula and the Aleutian islands. Senecio lugens is common in Denali, occurring in suitable habitat widely on both sides of the Alaska Range crest, particularly in hills and mountains and radiating into adjacent boreal areas along rivers.
Details are shown in the Plots & Charts found at right, depicting recent Denali data.
In Denali, S. lugens is found at elevations 205 m to 1402 m with an average site elevation of 944 m. It prefers moderately steep slopes with an average slope angle of 12 degrees. It prefers south-facing to north-facing slopes.
Details are shown in the Plots & Charts found at right. For more on how to interpret these figures, visit Understanding Data Presented.
Senecio lugens grows in open woods, moist meadows, lake shores, and streambanks.
Moist to somewhat dry sites.