''Packera ionophylla'' is an uncommon species of flowering plant in the aster family known by the common name Tehachapi ragwort. It is endemic to California, where it is known from the Tehachapi Mountains, the San Gabriel and

San Bernardino Mountains The San Bernardino Mountains are a high and rugged mountain range in Southern California in the United States. Situated north and northeast of San Bernardino and spanning two California counties, the range tops out at at San Gorgonio Mountain � ...

, and Alamo Mountain near the Grapevine. It grows in mountain forest habitat. It is a perennial

herb In general use, herbs are a widely distributed and widespread group of plants, excluding vegetables and other plants consumed for macronutrients, with savory or aromatic properties that are used for flavoring and garnishing food, for medicinal ...

producing one or more erect stems up to 30 to 50 centimeters tall from a

rhizome In botany and dendrology, a rhizome (; , ) is a modified subterranean plant stem that sends out roots and shoots from its nodes. Rhizomes are also called creeping rootstalks or just rootstalks. Rhizomes develop from axillary buds and grow hori ...

or taproot and

caudex A caudex (plural: caudices) of a plant is a stem, but the term is also used to mean a rootstock and particularly a basal stem structure from which new growth arises.pages 456 and 695 In the strict sense of the term, meaning a stem, "caudex" is m ...

unit. It is slightly hairy to woolly or cobwebby in texture. The thick leaves have lobed blades one or two centimeters long borne on petioles. The inflorescence holds one or more

flower heads A pseudanthium (Greek for "false flower"; ) is an inflorescence that resembles a flower. The word is sometimes used for other structures that are neither a true flower nor a true inflorescence. Examples of pseudanthia include flower heads, compos ...

containing many disc florets and usually several ray florets, though these may be absent.

External links

Jepson Manual Treatment: ''Packera ionophylla''USDA Plants ProfileFlora of North America''Packera ionophylla'' - U.C. Photo gallery
ionophylla Endemic flora of California Flora of the Sierra Nevada (United States) Natural history of the Transverse Ranges ~ ~ ~ Taxa named by Edward Lee Greene Flora without expected TNC conservation status {{Senecioneae-stub