Packera plattensis, also known as prairie ragwort or prairie groundsel is a species

Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...

 of the genus Packera

Packera

Packera is a genus of about 64 species of plants in the composite family, Asteraceae. Its members were previously included in the genus Senecio , but were divided out based on chromosome numbers, a variety of morphological characters, and molecular phylogeny.-Species:*Packera anonyma W.A. Weber & A...

and family Asteraceae

Asteraceae

The Asteraceae or Compositae , is an exceedingly large and widespread family of vascular plants. The group has more than 22,750 currently accepted species, spread across 1620 genera and 12 subfamilies...

. It used to be a Senecio

Senecio

Senecio is a genus of the daisy family that includes ragworts and groundsels. The flower heads are normally rayed, completely yellow, and the heads are borne in branched clusters...

.

Prairie Groundsel is found throughout the tallgrass prairie

Tallgrass prairie

The tallgrass prairie is an ecosystem native to central North America, with fire as its primary periodic disturbance. In the past, tallgrass prairies covered a large portion of the American Midwest, just east of the Great Plains, and portions of the Canadian Prairies. They flourished in areas with...

 region, and it is one of the earliest flowering prairie wildflowers. It is easily confused with golden ragwort or Packera aurea which has a hairless stem and heart-shaped basal leaves, and Senecio integerrimus, which has leaves that are mostly entire instead of fern-like, and much larger basal leaves.