Erigeron speciosus |
Erigeron untermannii |
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aspen fleabane, showy daisy, showy fleabane, splendid fleabane |
Indian Canyon fleabane |
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Habit | Perennials, 30–80(–100) cm; rhizomatous, fibrous-rooted, caudices relatively thick. | Perennials, 2–8 cm; taprooted, caudices branched, retaining old leaf bases. |
Stems | erect, glabrous or sparsely hirsuto-pilose (hairs 0.5–1 mm), often minutely glandular distally. |
erect (greenish proximally, essentially scapiform), strigose, eglandular. |
Leaves | basal (usually withering by flowering) and cauline; basal blades oblanceolate-spatulate, 30–80(–150) × 4–18(–28) mm, margins entire, often ciliate (main veins sometimes also), faces glabrous, eglandular or distal sparsely minutely glandular; cauline blades ovate to ovate-lanceolate, oblong-lanceolate, or lanceolate, nearly even-sized distally or sometimes mid largest (continuing to immediately below heads, bases usually clasping to subclasping). |
mostly basal (persistent); blades oblanceolate to spatulate, 10–50 × (1–)2–5(–7) mm, sometimes continuing on proximal 1/2 of stems, margins entire, faces usually sparsely to densely strigose, abaxial sometimes glabrous or glabrate, eglandular. |
Involucres | 6–9 × 11–22 mm. |
5–7 × 6–12(–15) mm. |
Ray florets | 75–150; corollas blue to lavender, rarely whitish, 8–16 mm (mostly 1 mm wide), laminae slightly coiling at least at tips. |
14–30; corollas white to pink or purplish, 4–8 mm, laminae coiling and reflexing. |
Disc corollas | 4–5 mm. |
3.5–5 mm. |
Phyllaries | in 2–3(–4) series, usually glabrous, sometimes sparsely hirsuto-pilose, minutely glandular. |
in 2–3(–4) series, densely hispiduloso-hirsute, eglandular. |
Heads | (2–)4–20 in corymbiform arrays. |
1. |
Cypselae | 1.5–1.8 mm, 2(–4)-nerved, faces sparsely strigose; pappi: outer of setae, inner of 20–30 bristles. |
2.3–3 mm, 2-nerved, faces and margins moderately strigose to strigoso-sericeous, margins densely ciliate; pappi: outer of setae, inner of 18–35 bristles. |
Erigeron speciosus |
Erigeron untermannii |
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Phenology | Flowering Jul–Oct. | Flowering May–Jun. |
Habitat | Dry or moist, gravelly or loamy soil, prairies, yellow pine, pine-fir, spruce-fir, aspen-spruce | Exposed sites, calcareous shale, limestone, sandstone, or marly gravel, meadows, pinyon-juniper, mountain mahogany, limber and bristlecone pine, sagebrush |
Elevation | (600–)900–3400 m ((2000–)3000–11200 ft) | 2100–3400 m (6900–11200 ft) |
Distribution |
AZ; CO; ID; MT; NM; NV; OR; SD; UT; WA; WY; AB; BC; Mexico (Baja California)
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UT |
Discussion | The population in Baja California is disjunct from the closest range in Arizona and northern Nevada. Plants glabrous and glandular on the phyllaries, stems, and leaves have been recognized as var. macranthus; they intergrade with hairier forms and do not show a coherent geographic pattern. Plants commonly identified as Erigeron subtrinervis var. conspicuus usually have stems sparsely hirsuto-pilose with hairs 1–1.5 mm, and the leaves commonly are ciliate on the margins and veins. As implied in the nomenclatural combination by Breitung, those plants are more similar to E. speciosus than to E. subtrinervis, and they apparently show part of the greater variability of E. speciosus in the northwestern part of its range (Alberta, British Columbia, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington, and Wyoming), where more typical plants also occur. Erigeron speciosus and E. subtrinervis are sympatric over large parts of their ranges and appear to be at least partially reproductively isolated entities, although intermediates are frequently encountered. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Of conservation concern. Rays of Erigeron untermannii tend to both coil and reflex, emphasizing its apparent close relationship to E. caespitosus. The leaves are often spatulate and glabrous to glabrate abaxially, features more similar to E. radicatus and its close relatives. Hybrid parentage is a reasonable hypothesis. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 20, p. 330. | FNA vol. 20, p. 284. |
Parent taxa | Asteraceae > tribe Astereae > Erigeron | Asteraceae > tribe Astereae > Erigeron |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Stenactis speciosa, E. conspicuus, E. macranthus, E. speciosus var. conspicuus, E. speciosus var. macranthus, E. subtrinervis subsp. conspicuus, E. subtrinervis var. conspicuus | E. carringtoniae |
Name authority | (Lindley) de Candolle: in A. P. de Candolle and A. L. P. P. de Candolle, Prodr. 5: 284. (1836) | S. L. Welsh & Goodrich: Great Basin Naturalist 43: 367. (1983) |
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