Foothills, montane, subalpine. Meadows (especially wet ones), Oak brush. Spring, summer.
Narraguinnep Natural Area, May 28, 2004.
El Diente Trail, July 22, 2004.

Senecio integerrimus is quite slender with a very proper upright posture. The stem and leaves of young Senecio integerrimus are usually covered with cob-webby hairs but later in the season some, or even most, of the hairs may fall off; mature leaves can have tiny teeth; phyllaries are red-to-black tipped; the flower head is tightly packed; most leaves are basal and nearly vertical; and stem leaves are few, clasping, and reduced in size.  This is a common plant in montane and subalpine wetlands but it also prospers in dry Oak and Spruce forests and Sagebrush.  Both photographs at left show the plant in wet meadows: Narraguinnep is at 8,500 feet and the meadow below El Diente is at 11,200 feet.  In drier areas or subalpine/alpine meadows, Senecio integerrimus can be just six inches tall.

Thomas Nuttall collected the first specimens of this plant for science in 1811 on the plains near the Missouri River in what is now Montana.  He named the plant in his Genera of North American Plants in 1818. "Integerrimus" is from the Latin for "entire, whole, or complete" perhaps referring to the "entire" (smooth-edged) leaves or to the compact cluster of flowers.

Foothills, montane, subalpine. Meadows (especially wet ones), Oak brush. Spring, summer.
Can Do Trail near Dolores, April 22, 2009.
Narraguinnep Natural Area, May 10, 2006.

Young plants are often covered in long, cob-webby hairs, but late in the season the hairs are usually gone.  Notice that the basal leaves are glabrous (without hairs) in the plants in the top photograph in this series.  Notice also the marked difference in the shades of green in the photographs on this page.

Foothills, montane, subalpine. Meadows (especially wet ones), Oak brush. Spring, summer.
Narraguinnep Natural Area, May 28, 2004.