Packera texensis

Perennials, 20-40+ cm; taprooted (caudices woody, ascending to erect). Stems usually 1 or 2-5, rarely 6-20, clustered, glabrous but for tomentose leaf axils. Basal leaves petiolate; blades elliptic-ovate, broadly oblanceolate, or lyrate (lateral lobes 3-9 pairs), 40-70 × 15-25 mm, bases tapering, margins irregularly and deeply parted or lobed (apices incised). Cauline leaves usually gradually, sometimes abruptly, reduced (petiolate or sessile; narrowly elliptic to oblanceolate, pinnatifid). Heads 3-20+ in open or congested, corymbiform arrays, frequently subtended by smaller arrays from leaf axils. Peduncles ebracteate or bracteate, glabrous. Calyculi usually 0, sometimes inconspicuous. Phyllaries 13 or 21, light green, 4-6+ mm, glabrous. Ray florets (10-)13; corolla laminae 5-7+ mm. Disc florets 60-75+; corolla tubes 2-3 mm, limbs 2-3 mm. Cypselae 1-1.5 mm, hirsute on ribs; pappi 3-5 mm. 2n = 36.

Flowering mid Feb-late Apr. Limestone plateaus overlain by dry, granitic sands and gneiss, roadsides, partially shaded areas, oak woodlands; 200-400 m; Tex.

Packera texensis is known only from granitic sands of the Central Mineral Region on the Edwards Plateau of central Texas. It appears to be substrate specific.