Erigeron caespitosus |
Erigeron compositus |
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tuft daisy, tuft fleabane |
cut-leaf daisy, cut-leaf fleabane, dwarf mountain fleabane, fern-leaf fleabane, trifid mountain fleabane, vergerette à feuilles segmentées |
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Habit | Perennials, 5–25(–30) cm; taprooted, caudices relatively thick, usually branched. | Perennials, 5–15(–25 cm); taprooted, caudices simple or branches usually relatively thick and short, rarely slender and rhizomelike, covered with persistent leaf bases. |
Stems | decumbent-ascending (greenish proximally), usually densely hirsute to hirtellous (hairs spreading to deflexed, gradually attenuate, basal cells erect), sometimes strigose (in Saskatchewan and Yukon), eglandular. |
erect (simple, ± scapiform), sparsely hispido-pilose, minutely glandular. |
Leaves | basal (persistent) and cauline; basal blades (1–)3-nerved, narrowly oblanceolate to spatulate, (10–)20–90(–120) × 2–15 mm, margins entire (apices rounded to obtuse), faces densely hirtellous, eglandular; cauline blades oblong-ovate to linear, ± reduced distally. |
mostly basal (persistent); blades spatulate to obovate-spatulate, 5–50(–70) × (2–)4–12 mm, margins (1–)2–3(–4)-ternately lobed or dissected, cauline bractlike, mostly entire, faces densely hispiduloso-puberulent to glabrate, minutely glandular. |
Involucres | 4–7 × 9–18 mm. |
5–10 × 8–20 mm. |
Ray florets | 30–100; corollas white to bluish, 5–15 mm, laminae coiling. |
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Ray (pistillate) florets | 20–60; corollas white to pink or blue, usually 6–12 mm, often reduced to tubes (heads disciform), laminae not coiling or reflexing. |
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Disc corollas | 3–4.4 mm. |
3–5 mm. |
Phyllaries | in 3–4 series, densely hirsuto-canescent to hirtellous (hairs spreading), moderately minutely glandular. |
in 2–3 series (purple-tipped), hirsute (hairs spreading), minutely glandular. |
Heads | 1–4 (branches from distal 1/2 of stem). |
(sometimes disciform) 1. |
Cypselae | 1.7–2.2 mm, 2-nerved, faces sparsely strigose; pappi: outer of setae or scales, inner of 15–25 bristles. |
1.6–2.7 mm, 2-nerved, faces sparsely strigose-hirsute; pappi: outer usually of setae, sometimes 0, inner of 12–20 bristles. |
2n | = 18, 36. |
= 18, 36, 45, 54. |
Erigeron caespitosus |
Erigeron compositus |
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Phenology | Flowering Jun–Aug. | Flowering (May–)Jun–Aug. |
Habitat | Rocky or sandy, grassy hills, sagebrush-aspen, pinyon-juniper, to spruce and tundra northward | Sagebrush, rabbitbrush, aspen to aspen-fir, subalpine meadows, cliffs, talus, and boulders |
Elevation | 1300–3000(–3600) m (4300–9800(–11800) ft) | (in e Canada, possibly Greenland and Arctic bridge gap, 10–200–)1800–4300 m ((in e Canada, possibly Greenland and Arctic bridge gap, 0–700–)5900–14100 ft) |
Distribution |
AK; AZ; CO; ID; MT; ND; NE; NM; SD; UT; WA; WY; AB; BC; MB; SK; YT
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AK; AZ; CA; CO; ID; MT; ND; NV; OR; SD; UT; WA; WY; AB; BC; NF; NT; NU; QC; SK; YT; Greenland; e Asia (Russian Far East)
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Discussion | Erigeron caespitosus as recognized here is highly variable and perhaps justifiably could be divided into more than one taxon. Plants at lower elevations tend to produce tall stems branching above the middle and long, white rays. At higher elevations, especially in Idaho, western Montana, Utah, and Wyoming, stems tend to be shorter and simple and the rays commonly are blue to violet. In the Bitterroot Mountains (Ravalli and Deerlodge counties, Montana), short-stemmed, blue-rayed plants also have strigose cauline vestiture (in contrast to typically deflexed-hirtellous stems); these vestiture variants occur in the same area with plants apparently similar in all other features. Strigose populational variants also occur in Saskatchewan and Yukon, and E. abajoensis, largely distinguished by strigose cauline vestiture, might be considered a regional variant of E. caespitosus. In eastern Idaho and southwestern Montana, plants of E. caespitosus are commonly encountered with cauline leaves obovate and distinctly subclasping. Plants with strongly 3-nerved basal leaves occur in Carbon and Gallatin counties, Montana. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Correlations among ploidal level, breeding systems, and morphologic variation have been studied in detail in Erigeron compositus. Five informally designated population systems of diploids are geographically restricted (all of the northwestern United States and adjacent Canada) and primarily sexual, compared to the polyploids, which are agamospermous and apparently of hybrid origin, at least in some cases (R. D. Noyes et al. 1995; Noyes and D. E. Soltis 1996). Reduction in ray floret laminae usually is correlated with polyploidy. Plants with 1-ternately lobed leaves have been identified as var. glabratus, an element of variation that does not have a geographic pattern. Among closely related species, Erigeron compositus is the only one that produces strongly thickened caudex branches; occasional collections show a tendency toward the slender, loose branches characteristic of the other species. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 20, p. 283. | FNA vol. 20, p. 300. |
Parent taxa | Asteraceae > tribe Astereae > Erigeron | Asteraceae > tribe Astereae > Erigeron |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | E. compositus var. discoideus, E. compositus var. glabratus, E. compositus var. multifidus, E. gormanii | |
Name authority | Nuttall: Trans. Amer. Philos. Soc., n. s. 7: 307. (1840) | Pursh: Fl. Amer. Sept. 2: 535. (1813) |
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