Aspen Fleabane
Erigeron speciosus
Aster family (Asteraceae)
Erigeron is the second largest of wildflowers in our area. (Astragalus is first and Penstemon is third.) Fleabanes are at first difficult to identify to the species level but studying key characteristics, such as the plant's height, habitat and altitude, and flower head structure rewards you with success. Erigeron formosissimus is similar to Erigeron speciosus but is distinguished by several factors: its shorter height, its tendency to grow in large clumps with a tight mat of , and its arching stems.
By some accounts, the name "fleabane" was given because the seeds are "so like fleas." "Specios" is Latin for "showy" or "beautiful." In 1753 Linnaeus gave the its name from the Greek "eri" ("early") + "geron" ("old man," as in "geriatrics," the study of old age processes and problems). The Greek name refers to the early flowering of many species, to the bristly hairs of the developing seeds, and to the puffy, grizzled appearance of the mature seed head. About 1830 David Douglas (of Douglas Fir fame) collected the first seeds of this plant in California; they were grown into plants in England.
©2019 John Doyen
