Senecio hydrophiloides

Sweet marsh ragwort

Family: Asteraceae · Type: perennial · Native

Conservation status: CNPS 4.2

Sweet marsh ragwort is a California native perennial ranked 4.2 by CNPS, found in northern Sierra Nevada Mountains, Modoc Plateau, and high Cascade Range habitats on damp hillsides, meadows, and seeps at elevations of 1,200 to 2,200 meters. Flowering from June to August, this plant produces yellow disk flowers in dense, flat-topped clusters approximately 15 to 30 millimeters wide. Growing 3 to 10 feet tall with single or clustered stems that are slightly red-tinged and glabrous or minimally hairy, it emerges from an erect button-like caudex with fleshy-fibrous roots. Its leaves are firm and elliptic to broadly lanceolate, gradually reduced along the stem, measuring 5 to 15 centimeters long and 2 to 7 centimeters wide, with dentate margins and tapered bases leading to winged petioles. The fruit is small, approximately 2 to 3 millimeters long and glabrous.

Habitat: Damp hillsides, meadows, seeps

Bloom period: Jun-Aug

Elevation: 1200-2200 m

Bioregions: CaRH, n SN, MP

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