Philadelphia fleabane is one of five Missouri species in genus Erigeron. It blooms April–June and grows nearly statewide. Identify it by the clasping, earlike lobes at the base of its sessile stem leaves, or by counting its 120–400 narrow, petal-like ray florets.
Philadelphia fleabane is a biennial or usually short-lived perennial with fibrous roots, the stem branching toward the tip; stems and leaves commonly soft and hairy.
The flowerheads are small, daisy-like, to about 1 inch wide, with golden yellow centers of tightly packed disk florets, and 120–400 narrow, petal-like ray florets that are white, sometimes light pinkish or lavender.
- No other Erigeron in Missouri has so many ray florets.
Blooms April–June.
The basal leaves are in a whorl, spade-shaped with mostly rounded tips, short stems, the edges coarsely toothed or scalloped, sometimes lobed; sometimes withered by flowering time. The stem leaves are numerous, sessile (stemless), partially clasping the stem with earlike lobes, usually with a pointed tip and oblong.
- The clasping, earlike lobes at the leaf bases are a key to identifying this species.
Similar species: There are four other species of Erigeron in Missouri, nearly all of them occurring statewide. Learn more about them on their group page.
Height: to 3 feet.
Scattered to common throughout the state; less common or absent from western parts of the Ozarks.
Habitat and Conservation
Occurs on banks of streams and rivers, edges of ponds and lakes, bottomland forests, moist upland forests and prairies, on bluffs and in fields, valleys, waste places, gardens, cemeteries, roadsides, railroads, and in open disturbed areas.
Status
Native Missouri wildflower.
Human Connections
Philadelphia fleabane can be cultivated in native wildflower gardens or naturalized in meadows. Fleabanes attract butterflies.
Native Americans used fleabanes medicinally, for heart ailments, for pain relief, to treat diarrhea, as a poultice for sores, and to reduce excessive bleeding after childbirth.
Fleabanes got their name from the antique, mistaken belief that plants in this genus might repel fleas.
Ecosystem Connections
The leaves of fleabanes are food for certain types of butterflies and moths, and the flowers provide nectar for an even greater variety of insects.
Deer and other herbivores browse the foliage of fleabanes.
In North America, there are about 170 species in genus Erigeron. Globally, there are about 400.
