Erigeron pulchellus |
Erigeron caespitosus |
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hairy fleabane, poor robin fleabane, robin's plantain, robin's plantain fleabane |
tuft daisy, tuft fleabane |
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Habit | Perennials, 15–60 cm; rhizomatous, fibrous-rooted, primary rhizomes relatively slender, producing slender, herbaceous, scale-leaved, stoloniform rhizomes (rhizomes often not collected). | Perennials, 5–25(–30) cm; taprooted, caudices relatively thick, usually branched. | ||||||||
Stems | erect to ascending (usually abruptly dilated proximal to heads), villous (more densely so on proximal 1/2), eglandular. |
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. |
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Leaves | basal (persistent) and cauline; basal blades oblanceolate to obovate or suborbiculate, subspatulate, 20–130(–180) × 6–30(–50) mm; cauline gradually reduced distally (bases clasping and slightly auriculate), margins usually dentate to denticulate, rarely entire, faces sparsely to moderately hirsute to hirsuto-villous, sometimes glabrate or glabrous (especially adaxially), eglandular. |
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. |
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Involucres | 5–7 × 6–20 mm. |
4–7 × 9–18 mm. |
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Ray florets | 50–80(–100); corollas light blue to purplish, pink, or white, 6–10 mm, laminae coiling tardily at tips. |
30–100; corollas white to bluish, 5–15 mm, laminae coiling. |
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Disc corollas | 4.5–6 mm. |
3–4.4 mm. |
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Phyllaries | in 2–3(–4) series, sparsely to moderately hirsute to hirsuto-villous (cross walls not distinctly colored), minutely glandular to stipitate-glandular. |
in 3–4 series, densely hirsuto-canescent to hirtellous (hairs spreading), moderately minutely glandular. |
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Heads | 1–4(–9). |
1–4 (branches from distal 1/2 of stem). |
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Cypselae | 1.3–1.8 mm, 2(–4)-nerved, faces sparsely strigose to glabrate or glabrous; pappi: outer 0 or of setae, inner of (22–)28–36 bristles. |
1.7–2.2 mm, 2-nerved, faces sparsely strigose; pappi: outer of setae or scales, inner of 15–25 bristles. |
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2n | = 18, 36. |
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Erigeron pulchellus |
Erigeron caespitosus |
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Phenology | Flowering Jun–Aug. | |||||||||
Habitat | Rocky or sandy, grassy hills, sagebrush-aspen, pinyon-juniper, to spruce and tundra northward | |||||||||
Elevation | 1300–3000(–3600) m (4300–9800(–11800) ft) | |||||||||
Distribution |
AL; AR; CT; DE; FL; GA; IA; IL; IN; KS; KY; LA; MA; MD; ME; MI; MN; MO; MS; NC; NH; NJ; NY; OH; OK; PA; RI; SC; TN; TX; VA; VT; WI; WV; ON; QC
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AK; AZ; CO; ID; MT; ND; NE; NM; SD; UT; WA; WY; AB; BC; MB; SK; YT
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Discussion | Varieties 3 (3 in the flora). (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 20, p. 327. | FNA vol. 20, p. 283. | ||||||||
Parent taxa | Asteraceae > tribe Astereae > Erigeron | Asteraceae > tribe Astereae > Erigeron | ||||||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||||||
Name authority | Michaux: Fl. Bor.-Amer. 2: 124. (1803) | Nuttall: Trans. Amer. Philos. Soc., n. s. 7: 307. (1840) | ||||||||
Web links |