Tehachapi ragwort facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Tehachapi ragwort |
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Senecio ionophyllus |
Packera ionophylla is a special kind of flowering plant that belongs to the aster family. It's often called the Tehachapi ragwort. This plant is quite rare and doesn't grow in many places.
The Tehachapi ragwort is found only in California. This means it's endemic to California, which is a fancy way of saying it naturally lives there and nowhere else in the world. You can find it in mountain areas like the Tehachapi Mountains, the San Gabriel Mountains, and the San Bernardino Mountains. It also grows near Alamo Mountain, which is close to a famous road called the Grapevine. This plant loves to grow in mountain forests.
What the Tehachapi Ragwort Looks Like
The Tehachapi ragwort is a perennial plant. This means it lives for more than two years, coming back each growing season. It's also an herb, which means it has soft stems, not woody ones like a tree.
Plant Structure
This plant usually grows one or more straight stems that can reach about 30 to 50 centimeters tall. That's roughly the length of a ruler and a half! These stems grow from a special underground part called a rhizome or a deep taproot system. Sometimes, it also has a thick base called a caudex.
The plant can feel a bit fuzzy or even like a spiderweb because it has fine hairs. Its leaves are thick and have interesting lobed shapes. Each leaf blade is about one or two centimeters long and sits on a small stem called a petiole.
Flowers of the Ragwort
The Tehachapi ragwort produces one or more flower heads. These aren't just single flowers, but a cluster of many tiny flowers grouped together. Each flower head usually has many small disc florets in the center. It might also have several ray florets, which look like petals, around the edge. Sometimes, these ray florets are not present.
