Packera paupercula(Michx.) Á.Löve & D.Löve

balsam groundsel

WFO wfo-0000000934 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC BY / CC BY-SA

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Packera paupercula, photographed by Ryan Sorrells
fig. a Ryan Sorrells, CC BY 4.0 / 2022-06-12 / obs. 205834215
Packera paupercula, photographed by Alec McClay
fig. b Alec McClay, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 205245776
Packera paupercula, photographed by Alec McClay
fig. c Alec McClay, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 205246717
Packera paupercula, photographed by Doug Macaulay
fig. d Doug Macaulay, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 203699132
Packera paupercula, photographed by Henry "Nick" Robertson
fig. e Henry "Nick" Robertson, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 148070884
Packera paupercula, photographed by Ivan Wiljanen
fig. f Ivan Wiljanen, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 139356066
Packera paupercula, photographed by Henry "Nick" Robertson
fig. g Henry "Nick" Robertson, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 138910780
Packera paupercula, photographed by Henry "Nick" Robertson
fig. h Henry "Nick" Robertson, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 138907837

Every figure is a research-grade observation under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA, rehosted with the photographer’s name, the licence and the observation it came from. Photographs under a NonCommercial licence are excluded from this site and are never stored, which costs us a great many pictures and is not negotiable.

Native range 48 botanical countries

Regions where Packera paupercula is native: Alabama, Alaska, Alberta, Arkansas, British Columbia, Colorado, District of Columbia, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Labrador, Maine, Manitoba, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, New Brunswick, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Newfoundland, North Carolina, North Dakota, Northwest Territories, Nova Scotia, Nunavut, Ohio, Ontario, Pennsylvania, Prince Edward I., Québec, Saskatchewan, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming, Yukon AlabamaAlaskaAlbertaArkansasBritish ColumbiaColoradoGeorgiaIdahoIllinoisIndianaIowaKentuckyLabradorMaineManitobaMarylandMassachusettsMichiganMinnesotaMissouriMontanaNew BrunswickNew HampshireNew JerseyNew YorkNewfoundlandNorth CarolinaNorth DakotaNorthwest TerritoriesNova ScotiaNunavutOhioOntarioPennsylvaniaPrince Edward I.QuébecSaskatchewanSouth DakotaTennesseeUtahVermontVirginiaWashingtonWest VirginiaWisconsinWyomingYukon District of Columbia
Native distribution of Packera paupercula, after Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Introduced, extinct and doubtful records are excluded, so this is where the plant is from, not everywhere it now grows. Regions too small to draw at this scale are marked with a dot.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Alabama ALA NORTHERN AMERICA
Alaska ASK
Alberta ABT
Arkansas ARK
British Columbia BRC
Colorado COL
District of Columbia WDC
Georgia GEO
Idaho IDA
Illinois ILL
Indiana INI
Iowa IOW
Kentucky KTY
Labrador LAB
Maine MAI
Manitoba MAN
Maryland MRY
Massachusetts MAS
Michigan MIC
Minnesota MIN
Missouri MSO
Montana MNT
New Brunswick NBR
New Hampshire NWH
New Jersey NWJ
New York NWY
Newfoundland NFL
North Carolina NCA
North Dakota NDA
Northwest Territories NWT
Nova Scotia NSC
Nunavut NUN
Ohio OHI
Ontario ONT
Pennsylvania PEN
Prince Edward I. PEI
Québec QUE
Saskatchewan SAS
South Dakota SDA
Tennessee TEN
Utah UTA
Vermont VER
Virginia VRG
Washington WAS
West Virginia WVA
Wisconsin WIS
Wyoming WYO
Yukon YUK

Region boundaries approximated from Natural Earth (public domain) and mapped to TDWG World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD) level-3 botanical countries (Brummitt 2001). Indicative, not the official WGSRPD geometry.

Flowering 996 in flower of 1,222 examined

Peak flowering in Jun. Each bar is the share of Packera paupercula observations in which someone actually recorded the reproductive state and found the plant in flower, not the raw number of flowering records. That distinction matters: people observe plants far more in spring than in winter, so a bare count of flowering records partly measures when people go outside. Dividing by the number examined removes that. 996 of 1,222 examined observations were in flower, every one of them research grade. The whisker on each bar is a 95% Wilson interval. 4 months have fewer than 5 examined observations, so no proportion is drawn for them. This is still a global aggregate and not a forecast for your garden: the same species flowers on different dates in different hemispheres. Where a species has fewer than 30 flowering records we do not draw this chart at all. Computed from 10.15468/dl.cgje2x.

Also published as 22 synonyms

A synonym is not an error. It is a record of botanists disagreeing, in print, about where this plant belongs. Each of these was somebody’s considered answer.

  • Packera paupercula var. paupercula
  • Senecio aureus var. pauperculus (Michx.) MacMill.
  • Senecio balsamitae Muhl. ex Willd.
  • Senecio balsamitae var. balsamitae
  • Senecio balsamitae var. firmifolius Greenm.
  • Senecio balsamitae var. thomsoniensis Greenm.
  • Senecio crawfordii Britton
  • Senecio flavovirens Rydb.
  • Senecio flavovirens var. flavovirens
  • Senecio gaspensis Greenm.
  • Senecio gaspensis f. gaspensis
  • Senecio gaspensis var. gaspensis
  • Senecio multnomensis Greenm.
  • Senecio pauperculus Michx.
  • Senecio pauperculus f. pauperculus
  • Senecio pauperculus subsp. pauperculus
  • Senecio pauperculus var. balsamitae Fernald
  • Senecio pauperculus var. pauperculus
  • Senecio pauperculus var. praelongus House
  • Senecio pauperculus var. thomsoniensis (Greenm.) B.Boivin
  • Senecio robbinsii var. subtomentosus Peck
  • Senecio tweedyi Rydb.

Sourcesevery claim on this page

  1. World Flora Online Plant List. accepted name, authority, classification. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  2. iNaturalist. photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only. per photograph. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  3. Wikidata. common name (P1843), joined on the World Flora Online identifier (P7715). CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-13.
  4. Kew, World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP v16). native distribution by TDWG level-3 botanical country, and life form. CC BY 3.0. Retrieved 2026-06-04.

We publish what we can source and we say so when we cannot. This page has no care advice and no toxicity claim, because we do not yet have those from a source we can cite.