''Packera bernardina'' is a rare species of flowering plant in the aster family known by the common name San Bernardino ragwort.

Distribution

The perennial herb is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

to the

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 ...

of southern

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, where it is known from about twenty occurrences. It grows in mountain pine forests and the unique

pebble plain A pebble is a clast of rock with a particle size of based on the Udden-Wentworth scale of sedimentology. Pebbles are generally considered larger than granules ( in diameter) and smaller than cobbles ( in diameter). A rock made predominan ...

habitat type of the local region.The Nature Conservancy
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Description

''Packera bernardina'' is a perennial herb growing 30 to 50 centimeters in maximum height from a branching

caudex A caudex (: 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 most ...

and a rosette of basal leaves; several rosettes, each with a stem, may be clustered together. The spatula-shaped leaves have small squared oval blades with toothed edges which are borne on the ends of long petioles. Smaller, simpler leaves occur higher up the stem. The leaves are coated in a very short layer of woolly hairs. The

inflorescence In botany, an inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a plant's Plant stem, stem that is composed of a main branch or a system of branches. An inflorescence is categorized on the basis of the arrangement of flowers on a mai ...

contains several

flower heads A pseudanthium (; : pseudanthia) 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, composite flowers ...

, each lined with hairy green

phyllaries In botanical terminology, a phyllary, also known an involucral bract or tegule, is a single bract of the involucre of a composite flower. The involucre is the grouping of bracts together. Phyllaries are reduced leaf-like structures that form one o ...

. The head contains many golden yellow disc florets and generally either 8 or 13 yellow ray florets each up to a centimeter long. The fruit is an

achene An achene (; ), also sometimes called akene and occasionally achenium or achenocarp, is a type of simple fruit, simple dry fruits, dry fruit produced by many species of flowering plants. Achenes are monocarpellate (formed from one carpel) and Dehi ...

with a body about a millimeter long tipped with a pappus of 3 or 4 millimeters. The bloom period is May to July.

References

External links

Calflora Database: ''Packera bernardina'' (San Bernardino ragwort)Jepson Manual Treatment — ''Packera bernardina''USDA Plants ProfileFlora of North AmericaU.C. CalPhotos gallery of ''Packera bernardina''
{{Taxonbar, from=Q7122953 bernardina Endemic flora of California Natural history of the Transverse Ranges San Bernardino Mountains Natural history of San Bernardino County, California Taxa named by Edward Lee Greene