Vascular Plants of North Carolina
Section: Common Name: Scientific Name: Family:
Account for Bog Ragwort - Packera crawfordii   (Britton) A.M. Mahoney & R.R. Kowal
Members of Asteraceae:
Members of Packera with account distribution info or public map:
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Section 6 » Family Asteraceae
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Author(Britton) A.M. Mahoney & R.R. Kowal
DistributionApparently restricted to a few locations in the Mountains and disjunct to the outer Coastal Plain. There has been confusion between this species and P. paupercula, and thus it is hoped that the range maps of the two on this website are reasonably accurate.

NJ and PA to southern IN, south to NC and TN.
AbundanceVery rare and local in the Mountains and the lower Coastal Plain; the Coastal Plain records are for a small region near the Onslow-Pender border. The NCNHP database contains only seven records. This is a State Endangered species.
HabitatPackera crawfordii is a species of damp ground, of seepage bogs and fens in the mountains (presumably in high pH soil) and of calcium-influenced Longleaf Pine-Wiregrass savannas in the lower Coastal Plain (over marl).
PhenologyFlowering and fruiting late April - mid June.
IdentificationRagworts generally grow 1-2.5 feet tall, with long basal leaves (deeply dissected in some species) that become smaller and sessile upstem. The inflorescence is branched and rather flat-topped, with golden yellow rays and orange-yellow disks. Distinguishing among the species can be challenging. Note that practically all our species posess cobwebby hairs (tomentose or floccose) on stem bases and leaf axils early in the season. Use any and all keys with care and caution. Bog Ragwort has its basal leaves very long-stalked with broadly elliptical and toothed but not dissected blades (vs. heart-shaped or rounded in P. aurea and P. serpenticola and vs. narrowly elliptical and occasionally pinnately dissected in P. anonyma). From the very similar P. paupercula, Bog Ragwort is a generally larger plant, growing 1-1.5 feet tall (vs. 6-12 inches tall in the other); has leaves with 11-25 teeth per margin and leaves not triple-nerved, vs. leaves with only 3-10 teeth per margin and somewhat triple-nerved in P. paupercula; and stem leaves dissected (pinnatifid) vs. stem leaves unlobed in the latter species (according to Weakley 2018).
Taxonomic CommentsThe former Senecio pauperculus has been moved to Packera paupercula, but has been split out into two species -- Packera crawfordii and P. paupercula (see Weakley [2018]).

Other Common Name(s)Crawford's Ragwort, Bog Groundsel
State RankS1
Global RankG2
State StatusE
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