balsam groundsel, Packera paupercula

This may be called balsam groundsel, balsam ragwort, or northern ragwort, depending on where you are. It was probably the native flower we saw most often on the Botany Club foray to the Upper Peninsula. It was rarely out of sight. This species is the most variable in Packera. Numerous populations have been split into separate species, and numerous varieties have been described. But characteristics overlap, and none of those separations are consistent across populations. Balsam can be found mostly in open sandy or gravelly ground in AK, AL, CA, CO, CT(E), DE, FL, GA, IA, ID, IL, IN, KY, MA, MD, ME, MI, MN, MO, MS, MT, NC, ND, NH(T), NJ, NM, NY, OH, PA, RI, SD, TN, UT, VA, VT, WA, WI, WV, WY, and across CAnada. Lenawee Co MI, 5/26/11. Aster family, Asteraceae.