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branch fleabane, branching daisy, club-fruit willowherb, common eastern fleabane, daisy fleabane, plains fleabane, prairie fleabane, purple-leaf willowherb, rough fleabane, rough-stem daisy, rough-stem fleabane, vergerette rude, whitetop fleabane

Habit Annuals, biennials, or short-lived perennials, 30–70 cm; fibrous-rooted, caudices simple, sometimes lignescent, sometimes producing rhizomes that bear leaf tufts at upturned ends.
Stems

erect or ascending, sparsely to moderately strigose to strigillose or hirsuto-strigillose (hairs usually ascending, rarely spreading, 0.1–1.2 mm), eglandular.

Leaves

basal (usually persistent through flowering) and cauline;

basal blades spatulate to broadly or narrowly oblanceolate to linear, (10–)30–150(–170) × 5–15(–21) mm;

cauline usually gradually reduced distally, continuing to near heads, margins entire or shallowly to deeply serrate or crenate, faces glabrous or glabrate to sparsely strigose or strigoso-hirsute, eglandular.

Involucres

(2–)3–4 × 5–12 mm.

Ray florets

50–100;

corollas white, less commonly pinkish or bluish, 4–6 mm, laminae coiling.

Disc corollas

1.5–2.5 mm (throats sometimes slightly indurate and inflated).

Phyllaries

in 2–4 series, glabrous, strigose, or sparsely hirsute, sometimes minutely glandular.

Heads

10–200+ in loosely corymbiform to paniculiform-corymbiform arrays (on distal branches).

Cypselae

(0.5–)0.9–1.2 mm, 2-nerved, faces sparsely strigose;

pappi: outer crowns of setae or scales, inner 0 (rays) or of 8–15 bristles (disc).

Erigeron strigosus

Distribution
from FNA
AL; AR; CA; CO; CT; DC; DE; FL; GA; IA; ID; IL; IN; KS; KY; LA; MA; MD; ME; MI; MN; MO; MS; MT; NC; ND; NE; NH; NJ; NM; NY; OH; OK; OR; PA; RI; SC; SD; TN; TX; VA; VT; WA; WI; WV; WY; AB; BC; MB; NB; NF; NS; ON; PE; QC; SK [Introduced in Europe, Pacific Islands (Hawaii)]
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Varieties 4 (4 in the flora).

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Key
1. Phyllary hairs flattened, 0.5–1.2 mm; stem hairs appressed to spreading, 0.5–1 mm
var. septentrionalis
1. Phyllary hairs terete, mostly 0.1–0.5 mm; stem hairs appressed to ascending, 0.1–0.4(–0.8) mm
→ 2
2. Annual or rarely biennial, without rhizomes; various habitats, often ruderal
var. strigosus
2. Plants usually perennial (sometimes killed prematurely by severe drought), with rhizomes that bear overwintering leaf tufts at upturned ends; shallow soils over calcareous rock
→ 3
3. Basal leaves linear to linear-oblanceolate, 1–3.5(–6) mm wide; cauline leaf faces sparsely to moderately strigillose
var. dolomiticola
3. Basal leaves oblanceolate to narrowly obovate or spatulate, (3.2–)3.8–15(–21) mm wide; cauline leaf faces glabrous, margins and midveins ciliate
var. calcicola
Source FNA vol. 20, p. 345.
Parent taxa Asteraceae > tribe Astereae > Erigeron
Sibling taxa
E. abajoensis, E. acomanus, E. acris, E. aequifolius, E. algidus, E. aliceae, E. allocotus, E. alpiniformis, E. anchana, E. annuus, E. aphanactis, E. arenarioides, E. argentatus, E. arisolius, E. arizonicus, E. asperugineus, E. aureus, E. barbellulatus, E. basalticus, E. bellidiastrum, E. bigelovii, E. biolettii, E. blochmaniae, E. bloomeri, E. breweri, E. caespitosus, E. calvus, E. canaani, E. canus, E. cascadensis, E. cavernensis, E. cervinus, E. chrysopsidis, E. clokeyi, E. compactus, E. compositus, E. concinnus, E. consimilis, E. corymbosus, E. coulteri, E. cronquistii, E. davisii, E. decumbens, E. denalii, E. disparipilus, E. divergens, E. eatonii, E. elatior, E. elatus, E. elegantulus, E. elmeri, E. engelmannii, E. evermannii, E. eximius, E. filifolius, E. flabellifolius, E. flagellaris, E. flettii, E. foliosus, E. formosissimus, E. garrettii, E. geiseri, E. glabellus, E. glacialis, E. glaucus, E. goodrichii, E. gracilis, E. grandiflorus, E. greenei, E. heliographis, E. hessii, E. howellii, E. humilis, E. hyperboreus, E. hyssopifolius, E. inornatus, E. jonesii, E. kachinensis, E. karvinskianus, E. klamathensis, E. kuschei, E. lackschewitzii, E. lanatus, E. lassenianus, E. latus, E. leibergii, E. leiomerus, E. lemmonii, E. linearis, E. lobatus, E. lonchophyllus, E. maguirei, E. mancus, E. maniopotamicus, E. mariposanus, E. melanocephalus, E. miser, E. modestus, E. muirii, E. multiceps, E. nanus, E. nauseosus, E. nematophyllus, E. neomexicanus, E. nivalis, E. ochroleucus, E. oreganus, E. oreophilus, E. ovinus, E. oxyphyllus, E. pallens, E. parishii, E. parryi, E. peregrinus, E. petrophilus, E. philadelphicus, E. pinnatisectus, E. piperianus, E. piscaticus, E. poliospermus, E. porsildii, E. pringlei, E. procumbens, E. pulchellus, E. pulcherrimus, E. pumilus, E. purpuratus, E. pygmaeus, E. quercifolius, E. radicatus, E. reductus, E. religiosus, E. rhizomatus, E. robustior, E. rybius, E. rydbergii, E. salishii, E. salmonensis, E. sanctarum, E. saxatilis, E. sceptrifer, E. scopulinus, E. serpentinus, E. sionis, E. sivinskii, E. sparsifolius, E. speciosus, E. subglaber, E. subtrinervis, E. supplex, E. tenellus, E. tener, E. tenuis, E. tracyi, E. trifidus, E. tweedyi, E. uintahensis, E. uncialis, E. uniflorus, E. untermannii, E. ursinus, E. utahensis, E. vagus, E. velutipes, E. vernus, E. versicolor, E. vetensis, E. vicinus, E. vreelandii, E. watsonii, E. wilkenii, E. yukonensis
Subordinate taxa
E. strigosus var. calcicola, E. strigosus var. dolomiticola, E. strigosus var. septentrionalis, E. strigosus var. strigosus
Synonyms E. annuus subsp. strigosus
Name authority Muhlenberg ex Willdenow: Sp. Pl. 3: 1956. (1803)
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