Montana Field Guide

Stems erect, 20–60 cm. Herbage glabrous or tomentose at leaf bases. Leaves: basal petiolate; blades ovate to lanceolate, cuneate, dentate, 2–6 cm long; cauline becoming sessile or clasping, lanceolate to oblanceolate, deeply pinnately divided into narrow lobes. Inflorescence corymbiform with 3 to 10 heads. Heads radiate; involucres 5–10 mm high; phyllaries 13 or 21, glabrous. Rays 8 or 13; ligules 4–12 mm long. Disk corollas 5–6 mm long. Achenes 1–3 mm long, glabrous (Lesica et al. 2012. Manual of Montana Vascular Plants. BRIT Press. Fort Worth, TX).

Balsam Ragwort - Senecio pauperculus
*Hairs: At flowering, leaves and stems are glabrate, but can be sparse tomentum (not arachnoid) in the leaf axils.
*Stem Leaves: Blades are lanceolate to oblanceolate, and divided into narrow, deeply-lobed.
*Habitat: Wetlands, moist meadows, or wet meadows.

Prairie Ragwort - Senecio plattensis
*Hairs: At flowering, leaves and stems are arachnoid to tomentose. The arachnoid hairs can be sparse to dense.
*Stem Leaves: Blades are ovate to lanceolate, and divided into narrow, crenate lobes.
*Habitat: Grasslands and pine woodlands.

Moist or wet meadows, fens, thickets, forest openings, often along streams; valleys, montane (Lesica et al. 2012. Manual of Montana Vascular Plants. BRIT Press. Fort Worth, TX).

POLLINATORS
The following animal species have been reported as pollinators of this plant species or its genus where their geographic ranges overlap: Bombus bifarius, Bombus flavifrons, Bombus frigidus, Bombus huntii, Bombus melanopygus, Bombus mixtus, Bombus sylvicola, Bombus occidentalis, Bombus insularis, Bombus suckleyi, Bombus flavidus, and Bombus kirbiellus (Schmitt 1980, Thorp et al. 1983, Mayer et al. 2000, Wilson et al. 2010, Pyke et al. 2012, Koch et al. 2012, Williams et al. 2014).