Packera pauciflora

Alpine groundsel

Family: Asteraceae · Type: perennial · Native

Alpine groundsel is a California native perennial found in the Sierra Nevada High and High Cascade Ranges in damp meadows and woodlands at elevations of 1,800 to 3,300 meters. Flowering from July to August, this plant produces deep orange-yellow ray flowers with small heads arranged in compact clusters. Growing 20 to 40 centimeters tall with 1 to 3 clustered stems that are glabrous or nearly smooth, it emerges from a weakly spreading fibrous-rooted base. Its basal leaves are distinctively thick and firm, elliptic-ovate to nearly kidney-shaped, 2 to 4 centimeters long with toothed or scalloped edges, while lower stem leaves have deeply dissected margins. The flower heads feature deep red or green phyllaries with reddish tips, supporting 60 to 80 disk flowers.

Habitat: Uncommon. Damp meadows, woodland

Bloom period: Jul-Aug

Elevation: 1800-3300 m

Bioregions: CaRH, SNH

California counties: Mono, Inyo, Tulare, Fresno, Sierra, Tuolumne, Plumas, Alpine, Shasta, Nevada, Placer, Mariposa, Lassen, Amador

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.