[Members of the Sunflower Family with Flower Heads like Sunflowers or Daisies]

The Fleabanes or Daisies of the Columbia River Gorge of Oregon and Washington

Wildflowers of the Genus Erigeron

Cushion Fleabane

The photo at right shows a close-up of the flower head of Howell's daisy.

Annual Fleabane: Erigeron annuus - Annual or biennials. Erect plants erect with leafy stems from 60-150 cm high. Stems with long spreading hairs in the leafy infloerscence. Stem leaves broadly lanceolate and coarsely and irregularly toothed. Flower heads with 50-125 narrow rays.

Cut-leaved Daisy: Erigeron compositus var. compositus - Cushion plant. Leaves dissected into 3 narrow segments, which are each again divided into 3 narrow segments.

Spreading Fleabane: Erigeron divergens - Plants biennial or short-lived perennials, much-branched from the tap-rooted base. Leaves up to 4-5 mm wide.

Thread-leaf Fleabane: Erigeron filifolius - Leaves narrowly linear, no more than 1 mm wide. Stem hairs appressed to closely ascending.

Howell's Daisy: Erigeron howellii - An erect, pretty wildflower with basal leaf blades abruptly contracted to the petiole. The stem leaves are thin with clasping bases. The rays are white. A plant of rocky places in the western Columbia River Gorge.

Yellow Desert (Linear-leaved) Daisy: Erigeron linearis - Cushion plant of many linear leaves and short upright flowering stems. Each stem has one quarter-sized flower with yellow disk and yellow rays. Plants to 5 inches tall.

Columbia Gorge Daisy: Erigeron oreganus - An attractive wildflower with hairy herbage. The stems are lax with a basal tuft of spatulate to obovate leaves. The leaves are coarsely-toothed. The stem leaves are elliptic, ovate, or lanceolate.

Foreign Daisy: Erigeron peregrinus var. eucallianthemus - An erect, showy fleabane of mountain meadows and open woods. Flower heads are large, with a yellowish central disk surrounded by 30-80 white to purple ray flowers.

Pink Fleabane: Erigeron philadelphicus - Weedy species with erect stems from 30-90 cm high. The basal leaves are 3-10 cm long and oblanceolate with toothed margins. The upper leaves are reduce gradually, the leaves lanceolate with clasping bases. The inflorescence is a flat-topped cluster of many flower heads. The rays are up to 10 mm long.

Cushion Fleabane, Hairy-seeded Daisy, Kittitas Fleabane, Purple Cushion Fleabane: Erigeron poliospermus var. poliospermus - Cushion plant with daisy-like flowers, pink, purple, or violet rays with yellow central disk. Plants to 6 inches tall.

Shaggy Fleabane: Erigeron pumilus var. intermedius (Synonyms: Erigeron pumilus var. euintermedius, Erigeron pumilus var. gracilior, Erigeron pumilus ssp. intermedius) -

Branching Daisy: Erigeron strigosus - Annual or biennial. Stems erect, 30-60 cm high. The herbage of stems and leaves is short-hairy, those of the stems appressed. The lower leaves are narrowly spatulate while the upper are reduced and linear. 6-10 flower heads are found in open, flat-topped clusters.

Three-vein Fleabane: Erigeron subtrinervis var. conspicuus - Perennials. Stems erect, 30-50 cm high. The herbage of stems, leaves and involucres is long-hairy. The long, lanceolate leaves have 3 major veins and entire margins. Rays 10-20 mm long.


Paul Slichter