Rugelia nudicaulis, or Rugels ragwort, a member of the genus Rugelia

Rugelia

Rugelia is a genus of flowering plants in the daisy family, Asteraceae....

which blooms in summer, is a wildflower found only at higher elevations in the Great Smoky Mountains

Great Smoky Mountains

The Great Smoky Mountains are a mountain range rising along the Tennessee–North Carolina border in the southeastern United States. They are a subrange of the Appalachian Mountains, and form part of the Blue Ridge Physiographic Province. The range is sometimes called the Smoky Mountains or the...

. It is a rare species in Tennessee. It was first placed in the genus 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...

, then moved to Cacalia

Cacalia

Adenostyles, is a large genus of to a flowering plants in the sunflower family Asteraceae, and of the constantly changing tribe Senecioneae...

 and finally placed in a genus of its own Rugelia

Rugelia

Rugelia is a genus of flowering plants in the daisy family, Asteraceae....

. Genetic diversity in this plant, assessed using allozymes, is so low that the species may not survive changing environmental conditions. http://jhered.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/86/3/194
http://www.thedailytimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070408/NEWS/704080310

External links

• http://tenn.bio.utk.edu/vascular/database/vascular-browse-common-results.asp?CommonNameID=Rugel's%20ragwort - University of Tennessee Herbarium
• http://www.tnps.org/- Tennessee Native Plant Society