CAPITULUM: The International Compositae Alliance Newsletter

Packed with Packera Á. Löve & D. Löve: Brief history of the “aureoid Senecio” subgroup in Senecioneae

Erika R. Moore-Pollard

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1182-9274

Jennifer R. Mandel

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3539-2991

DOI: https://doi.org/10.53875/capitulum.02.2.04

Keywords: chromosome counts, classification, hybridization, pollen

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Abstract

Senecioneae within Compositae is a very large and complicated tribe. Once considered a tribe composed of many species in the mega-genus Senecio and a few smaller genera, it is now delimited to many genera with two-thirds of Senecio separated into newly named, smaller genera. These genera typically follow subgroup classifications originally created by taxonomists over a century ago. One of those segregate genera is Packera, previously known as the Aureoids or “aureoid Senecio” subgroup. Packera is a somewhat recently described genus with an estimated 64 species and varieties found exclusively in North America. Members of this group have continuously been grouped together given shared morphological and ecological characteristics. Here, we describe the history of Packera’s subgroup classifications as the “aureoid Senecio” group over the last century, how this group differs from Senecio, and our current understanding of this complicated genus.