Gaugeplant

Senecio integerrimus, the lambstongue ragwort or western groundsel, is an erect perennial herb of the Asteraceae native to western North America from British Columbia south to California and east to the Great Plains. Plants grow 20-70 cm tall from a short, fleshy taproot, with single, unbranched, often woolly stems that become glabrous with age. Basal leaves are oblanceolate to elliptic, 5-20 cm long, entire to slightly toothed, with a thickened, sometimes purplish midrib; cauline leaves are reduced, sessile, and clasping. The flat-topped inflorescence is a corymb of 6-20 yellow flower heads, each 1-2 cm across, with 5-13 ray florets and an involucre of black-tipped phyllaries in a single equal series. Flowering occurs from late spring into midsummer. It grows in mountain meadows, sagebrush flats, open pine forest, and disturbed slopes from low elevation to subalpine zones.