[Daisies and Fleabanes: The Genus Erigeron East of the Cascade Mountains of Oregon and Washington]
Shaggy Fleabane
Erigeron pumilus var. intermedius
Synonyms: Erigeron pumilus ssp. intermedius, Erigeron pumilus var. euintermedius, Erigeron pumilus var. gracilior
Shaggy fleabane as seen from sandy, alkaline soils along Crab Creek in central Washington.......June
22, 2006.
The photo at right shows a close-up of the flower head of shaggy fleabane
as seen in sandy soils along Crab Creek in central Washington.........June 22, 2006. 50-100 narrow ray flowers radiate from the central disk. These may range from white to pink or pale blue in color.
Characteristics:
Shaggy Fleabane, as its name indicates, is a copiously haired perennial with
several leafy stems that ranges in height from 5 - 50 cm tall. The stems and
leaves are covered with numerous spreading-hairy, and sometimes somewhat glandular
hairs. The leaves are linear-oblanceolate to oblanceolate, olive-green in color,
up to 8 cm in length and 8 mm in width. The leaves may be found along the entire
stem as well as at the base, but are reduced in size from about mid-stem.
The daisy-like flower heads have numerous (50- 100) white, pink, or light
blue rays surrounding a narrow (7- 15 mm wide) disk of yellow disk flowers.
The narrow ray flowers are usually about 0.7- 1.5 mm wide and 6- 15 mm long
while the disk flowers are about 3.5- 5 mm long. The involucre is about 4- 7
mm tall, finely hairy and glandular, with bracts in one row.
Habitat:
Shaggy Fleabane is found in dry open places, often with sagebrush. It is found
primarily in the valleys and foothills at lower elevations to the higher elevation
foothills and sagebrush desert.
Range:
Erigeron pumilus is found from southern British Columbia, southwards
east of the Cascade Mountains through Washington and Oregon, to the coast of
southern California. It is found eastward to Saskatchewan, the western Great
Plains, and northern New Mexico and Arizona.
The photo above shows a close-up of the underside of shaggy fleabane as seen from along Crab Creek in central Washington.......June 22, 2006. Note the numerous narrow involucral bracts, each with several light, spreading hairs on it.
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Shaggy fleabanes in bloom on Missoula Flood sandbars above the Little Spokane River.......June 26, 2020.
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Shaggy fleabane blooming in Logan Valley along Road 1647, Malheur National Forest..........May 30, 2014.
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Shaggy fleabanes in bloom on Missoula Flood sandbars above the Little Spokane River.......June 26, 2022.
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A stem leaf of shaggy fleabane from Oregon Highway 74, one
mile south of Heppner Junction..........May 6, 2000. Note the abundant, long
and spreading hairs.
The photo above shows a close-up of the spreading hairs on the involucral bracts of a lavender-rayed shaggyfleabane seen on Zumwalt Prairie to the northeast of Enterprise, OR........July 9, 2007.
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Shaggy fleabane as seen at left at a pass where Arizona Creek Road becomes impassable to most passenger vehicles in the Pueblo Mountains of southeastern Oregon............June 1, 2012. The photo at right shows shaggy fleabane as seen in grasslands along the Stubblefield Trail, Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge......July 4, 2018.
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Close-up images of the upper stem, flower head and stem leaves of shaggy fleabane as seen from along Crab Creek in central Washington........June 22, 2006. Note the numerous spreading hairs along the stem.
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Two views of shaggy fleabane as seen along Rock Creek several hundred meters upstream from Hot Springs Campground, Hart Mt. National Antelope Refuge........June 11, 2016.
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The photos above show several views of shaggy fleabane as seen along the road at Irondyck Campground along the Lostine River in the Wallowa Mts.......July 8, 2007.
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Shaggy fleabane blooming along the Knothead Trail, Little Spokant River Natural Area.....June 15, 2024.
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Shaggy fleabane as seen on slopes directly east of Lost Lake Fen, Okanogan National Forest.........July 12, 2015.
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Shaggy fleabane in bloom on ice age flood sandbars between the Little Spokane River and Five Mile, Spokane County, WA.......June 29, 2018.
Shaggy fleabane from the Painted Hills, north-central Oregon..........June 24, 1997.
Paul Slichter