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Erigeron compositus

(Cutleaf Daisy)

Overview

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Interesting Facts

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Common Names

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Click on the language to view common names.

Common Names in English:

Cutleaf Daisy, Dwarf Mountain Fleabane, Fernleaf Fleabane

Common Names in French:

Vergerette , Vergerette à Feuilles Segmentées, Vergerette à Feuilles Segmentées

Description

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Family Compositae

The largest family of flowering plants , the Compositae (Asteraceae), comprising about 1,100 genera and more than 20,000 species and characterized by many small flowers arranged in a head looking like a single flower and subtended by an involucre of bracts. A head may consist of both ray flowers and disk flowers, as in the sunflower, of disk flowers only, as in the burdock, or of ray flowers only, as in the dandelion.

Genus Erigeron

Annuals , biennials, or perennials [subshrubs , shrubs , trees ], (0.5-) 2-90(-100) cm (taprooted, fibrous-rooted, or rhizomatous and fibrous-rooted, sometimes with simple or branched caudices, sometimes stoloniferous ) . Stems erect to ascending , decumbent , or prostrate , simple or branched, glabrous or hairy , sometimes glandular (hairs 2-seriate, minute, sometimes stipitate ) . Leaves basal and/or cauline (basal persistent or not to flowering) ; alternate; sessile or petiolate ; blades 1-nerved (3-nerved), linear to lanceolate, oblanceolate , or spatulate (bases sometimes clasping ), margins entire or ± dentate to pinnatifid , faces glabrous or hairy, sometimes glandular. Heads usually radiate , sometimes discoid or disciform (erect, nodding , or arching-pendent in bud), borne singly or in loose , corymbiform or paniculiform arrays. Involucres turbinate to hemispheric , 5-35 mm diam. Phyllaries 30-125(-150) in 2-5 series, 1- or 3-nerved (nerves golden-resinous; usually flat, rarely broadly keeled to convex ), narrowly elliptic- to linear-lanceolate, unequal to equal, margins scarious or not, faces hairy or glabrous, sometimes glandular. Receptacles flat to conic, pitted , epaleate. Ray florets 0 or 12-350 in 1(-2+) series, pistillate , fertile ; corollas usually white to bluish or purplish to pink, less commonly yellow (coiling from apices, reflexing at tube/lamina junction, or remaining ± straight and spreading ) . Peripheral florets (disciform heads) 50-200 in 1-4 series, pistillate. Disc florets 25-450, bisexual , fertile; corollas yellow (nerves orange-resinous), tubes shorter than usually tubular , sometimes strongly inflated and indurate throats , lobes 5, erect to spreading, deltate; style-branch appendages mostly deltate (papillate ) . Cypselae (tan) oblong to oblong-obovoid, compressed to flattened, 2(-4) -nerved, or subterete, 5-14-nerved (sect. Wyomingia and some other species), faces glabrous or strigose or sericeous , eglandular ; pappi persistent or readily falling, usually of outer setae or scales (0.1-0.4 mm), sometimes connate , plus 5-40(-50), stramineous , barbellate bristles , sometimes pappi only on ray or only on disc cypselae, or 0. x = 9.

Species ca. 390: nearly worldwide, mostly in temperate regions .

The North American and Central American species of Erigeron have been divided into sections (G. L. Nesom 1989c, 1990g, 1994b; Nesom and R. D. Noyes 1999), emphasizing variation in habit (especially taprooted versus rhizomatous and fibrous-rooted), vestiture , arrangement of heads in arrays and orientation before flowering (erect, nodding, or arching-pendent), behavior of ray corolla laminae (straight, reflexing, or coiling), cypsela and pappus morphology, and other morphologic features. The sequence and groupings of species treated here reflect significant modifications of earlier arrangements.

G. L. Nesom (1989d) hypothesized that Trimorpha [Erigeron sect. Trimorpha (Cassini) de Candolle] is separate from Erigeron, more closely related to Conyza. Studies by W. Huber and colleagues (e.g. , Huber 1993; Huber and Ö. Nilsson 1995) and R. D. Noyes (2000) have shown that Trimorpha species are closely related to those of sect. Erigeron and that both sections are relatively recently derived within the genus. As suggested by Nesom (1994b) and by Huber and Nilsson, and as discussed in detail and experimentally confirmed by Noyes, autogamous breeding systems apparently have arisen independently in groups of Astereae, including Trimorpha and Conyza, where the pistillate florets of a head are greatly increased in number (often outnumbering the bisexual florets), in multiple series, the inner sometimes with filiform , elaminate corollas, and the outer with reduced laminae.

In the molecular analysis by R. D. Noyes (2000), Conyzinae comprises Erigeron, American Conyza, the four genera of the South American Leptostelma group, and the North American Aphanostephus; the cladistically basal and terminal taxa of the subtribe are members of Erigeron. Noyes (p. 107) observed that "strictly speaking, although the Conyzinae form a monophyletic group [with caveats regarding Old World Conyza], Erigeron is paraphyletic, as five other genera are derived from within it." The molecular study included 46 of the 173 species treated here.

Polyploidy is common among species of Erigeron, and agamospermy apparently is a common correlate of polyploidy, especially in odd-polyploid plants . Molecular phylogenetic data (R. D. Noyes 2000) indicate that agamospermy has arisen at least three times within the genus.

In the descriptions and keys , some characteristics are assumed constant unless otherwise indicated (usually in parentheses) ; particular application of terms is discussed here. The indumentum of erigerons is often complex ; in order to simplify descriptions, glabrous applies here only to absence of non-glandular hairs, eglandular to the absence of glandular hairs; a totally glabrous plant (in the usual sense) would be glabrous and eglandular. Petiole margins are eciliate or sparsely ciliate unless otherwise indicated. Leaf bases of most erigerons are broadened or not, not thickened and white-indurate. Margins of leaves in some erigerons are entire but for tiny callous enations that correspond to the callous tips of teeth on some leaves with serrate margins. Here, margins with such tiny enations are described as denticulate. Heads of some erigerons are "pseudodisciform" in the sense that the outer pistillate florets have relatively small, ± filiform laminae (such florets are technically "ray florets" even though their "rays" are inconspicuous) and the inner pistillate florets have no laminae on their corollas. The distinction between corollas without and those with laminae is sometimes arbitrary . Ray laminae are considered strap-shaped and spreading unless otherwise indicated. Descriptions of ray color as "blue" should be read as lavender-blue.[1]

Physical Description

Species Erigeron compositus

Perennials , 5-15(-25 cm) ; taprooted, caudices simple or branches usually relatively thick and short, rarely slender and rhizomelike, covered with persistent leaf bases . Stems erect (simple, ± scapiform ), sparsely hispido-pilose, minutely glandular . Leaves mostly basal (persistent) ; blades spatulate to obovate-spatulate, 5-50(-70) × (2-) 4-12 mm, margins (1-) 2-3(-4) -ternately lobed or dissected , cauline bractlike, mostly entire, faces densely hispiduloso-puberulent to glabrate , minutely glandular. Heads (sometimes disciform ) 1. Involucres 5-10 × 8-20 mm. Phyllaries in 2-3 series (purple-tipped), hirsute (hairs spreading ), minutely glandular. Ray (pistillate ) florets 20-60; corollas white to pink or blue, usually 6-12 mm, often reduced to tubes (heads disciform), laminae not coiling or reflexing. Disc corollas 3-5 mm. Cypselae 1.6-2.7 mm, 2-nerved, faces sparsely strigose-hirsute; pappi: outer usually of setae, sometimes 0, inner of 12-20 bristles . 2n = 18, 36, 45, 54. [source]

Correlations among ploidal level, breeding systems, and morphologic variation have been studied in detail in Erigeron compositus. Five informally designated population systems of diploids are geographically restricted (all of the northwestern United States and adjacent Canada) and primarily sexual, compared to the polyploids , which are agamospermous and apparently of hybrid origin , at least in some cases (R. D. Noyes et al. 1995; Noyes and D. E. Soltis 1996). Reduction in ray floret laminae usually is correlated with polyploidy. Plants with 1-ternately lobed leaves have been identified as var. glabratus, an element of variation that does not have a geographic pattern . [source]

Among closely related species, Erigeron compositus is the only one that produces strongly thickened caudex branches; occasional collections show a tendency toward the slender, loose branches characteristic of the other species. [source]

Habit: Forb/herb • Growth Form: Single Crown • Shape and Orientation: Decumbent

Flowers: Bloom Period: May, June, July, August. • Flower Color: White • Flower Conspicuous: Yes

Seeds: Seed per Pound: 250000 • Seed Spread Rate: Moderate • Seedling Vigor: Medium • Fruit/Seed Abundance: Medium • Fruit/Seed Color: Brown • Fruit/Seed Conspicuous: No • Cold Stratification Required: Yes

Foliage: Foliage Color: Green • Foliage Porosity Summer: Dense • Foliage Porosity Winter: Porous • Foliage Texture: Medium • Fall Conspicuous: No • Leaf Retention: No

Size/Age/Growth

Active Growth Period: Spring and Summer • Growth Rate: Moderate • After Harvest Regrowth Rate: Slow • Mature Height (feet): 1.0 • Size: under 6" tall. • Vegetative Spread Rate: None • Lifespan: Lifespan

Habitat

Sagebrush, rabbitbrush, aspen to aspen-fir, subalpine meadows, cliffs , talus , and boulders ; (in e Canada, possibly Greenland and Arctic bridge gap , 10-200-)1800-4300 m.

Typically found at an altitude of 0 to 4,091 meters (0 to 13,422 feet).[2]

Biology

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Reproduction

Duration: Perennial • Coppice Potential: No • Progagated by Bulbs: No • Propagated by Bare Root: No • Propagated by Container: No • Propagated by Corms: No • Propagated by Cuttings: No • Propagated by Seed: Yes • Propagated by Sod: No • Propagated by Sprigs: No • Propagated by Tubers: No • Fruit/Seed Period Begin: Spring • Fruit/Seed Period End: Summer • Fruit/Seed Persistence: No

Growth

Culture: Space 9-12" apart.

Soil: Adapted to Medium Textured: Adapted to Medium Textured Soils • Adapted to Coarse Textured Soils: Yes • Anaerobic Tolerance: None • Salinity Tolerance: Low • CaCO3 Tolerance: High • Minimum pH: 6.1 • Maximum pH: 8.1 • Fertility Requirement: Low

Sunlight: Sun Exposure: Full Sun . • Shade Tolerance: Intolerant

Moisture: Drought Tolerance: High • Minimum Precipitation: 10 • Maximum Precipitation: 24 • Moisture Use: Low

Temperature: Minimum Temperature (F): -33 • Minimum Frost Free Days: 80 • Cold Hardiness: 3a, 3b, 4a, 4b, 5a, 5b, 6a, 6b, 7a, 7b, 8a, 8b. (map)

Taxonomy

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Synonyms

E. compositus var. glabratus Macoun • E. compositus var. multifidus (Rydberg) J. F. Macbride & Payson • E. gormanii Greene • Erigeron compositus var. discoideus A. Gray • Erigeron compositus var. glabratus Macoun • Erigeron compositus var. multifidus (Rydb.) J. F. macbr. & Payson • Erigeron compositus var. typicus Hook. • Erigeron trifidus Hook.

Notes

Name Status: Accepted Name .

Comment: Data Providers: Govaerts World Compositae Checklist A-G, IPNI, Tropicos. GCC LSID: urn :lsid:compositae.org:names:AA4E4975-BEBA-40D8-BC21-9F556BDD4C17

Last scrutiny: 13-Aug-09

Similar Species

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Members of the genus Erigeron

ZipcodeZoo has pages for 358 species, subspecies, varieties, forms, and cultivars in this genus. Here are just 100 of them:

E. abajoensis (Abajo Daisy) · E. acer (Blue Fleabane) · E. acer acer (Bitter Fleabane) · E. acomanus (Acoma Fleabane) · E. acris (Bitter Boreal Daisy) · E. acris debilis (Bitter Fleabane) · E. acris politus (Bitter Fleabane) · E. aequifolius (Hall's Daisy) · E. algidus (Sierra Daisy) · E. aliceae (Alice Eastwood's Fleabane) · E. allocotus (Big Horn Fleabane) · E. alpiniformis (Alpine Fleabane) · E. anchana (Sierra Ancha Fleabane) · E. angustatus (Serpentine Fleabane) · E. annuus (Annual Fleabane) · E. annuus annuus (Eastern Daisy Fleabane) · E. aphanactis (Beach Daisy) · E. aphanactis var. aphanactis (Rayless Shaggy Fleabane) · E. aphanactis var. congestus (Rayless Shaggy Fleabane) · E. arenarioides (Sand Fleabane) · E. argentatus (Silver Fleabane) · E. arisolius (Arid Throne Fleabane) · E. arizonicus (Arizona Fleabane) · E. asper (Rough Fleabane) · E. asperugineus (Idaho Daisy) · E. aurantiacus (Double Orange Daisy) · E. aureus (Alpine Yellow Fleabane) · E. aureus Greene var. acutifolius Raup (Alpine Yellow Fleabane) · E. aureus var. acutifolius (Alpine Yellow Fleabane) · E. aureus var. aureus (Alpine Yellow Fleabane) · E. austiniae (Dwarf Yellow Daisy) · E. awapensis (Awapa Daisy) · E. 'Azure Fairy' (Azure Fairy Fleabane) · E. barbellulatus (Shining Fleabane) · E. basalticus (Basalt Daisy) · E. bellidiastrum (Western Daisy Fleabane) · E. bellidiastrum Nutt. var. arenarius (Greene) Nesom (Sandwort Daisy Fleabane) · E. bellidiastrum var. arenarius (Sandwort Daisy Fleabane) · E. bellidiastrum var. bellidiastrum (Western Daisy Fleabane) · E. bellidiastrum var. robustus (Western Daisy Fleabane) · E. bellioides (Bellorita) · E. bigelovii (Bigelow's Fleabane) · E. biolettii (Biolett's Erigeron) · E. bistiensis (Bisti Fleabane) · E. blochmaniae (Blochman Leafy Daisy) · E. bloomeri (Bloomer Fleabane) · E. bloomeri var. bloomeri (Scabland Fleabane) · E. bloomeri var. nudatus (Scabland Fleabane) · E. bloomeri var. nudatus (Gray) Cronq. (Scabland Fleabane) · E. bloomeri var. pubens (Scabland Fleabane) · E. borealis (Boreal Fleabane) · E. breweri (Brewer's Daisy) · E. breweri var. bisanctus (Brewer's Erigeron) · E. breweri var. breweri (Brewer's Fleabane) · E. breweri var. covillei (Coville's Erigeron) · E. breweri var. covillei (Greene) Nesom (Coville's Erigeron) · E. breweri var. jacinteus (Brewer's Fleabane) · E. breweri var. jacinteus (Hall) Cronq. (Brewer's Fleabane) · E. breweri var. klamathensis (Klamath Erigeron) · E. breweri var. klamathensis Nesom (Klamath Erigeron) · E. breweri var. porphyreticus (Brewer's Fleabane) · E. caespitosus (Caespitose Fleabane) · E. caespitosus capillaris (Tufted Fleabane) · E. caespitosus uncialis (Tufted Fleabane) · E. caespitosus var. caninum (Tufted Fleabane) · E. caespitosus var. pectinacea (Tufted Fleabane) · E. calvus (Bald Daisy) · E. canus (Hoary Fleabane) · E. cascadensis (Cascade Fleabane) · E. cervinus (Siskiyou Daisy) · E. chrysopsidis (Dwarf Yellow Fleabane) · E. clokeyi (Clokey's Daisy) · E. colomexicanus (Running Daisy) · E. compactus (Cushion Daisy) · E. compactus var. cognatum (Cushion Daisy) · E. compactus var. coloradoensis (Cushion Daisy) · E. compactus var. covillei (Cushion Daisy) · E. compactus var. praebens (Cushion Daisy) · E. compositus (Cutleaf Daisy) · E. compositus var. compositus (Dwarf Mountain Fleabane) · E. concinnus (Hairy Daisy) · E. concinnus var. concinnus (Navajo Fleabane) · E. concinnus var. condensatus (Navajo Fleabane) · E. concinnus var. subglaber (Navajo Fleabane) · E. consimilis (Fern-Leaf Fleabane) · E. corymbosus (Long-Leaf Fleabane) · E. coulteri (Coulter Fleabane) · E. covillei (Coville's Erigeron) · E. cronquistii (Cronquist Daisy) · E. cuneifolius (Wedgeleaf Fleabane) · E. 'Darkest of All' (Fleabane) · E. decumbens (Meadow Fleabane) · E. decumbens var. decumbens (Willamette Fleabane) · E. decumbens var. decumbens Nutt. (Willamette Fleabane) · E. decumbens var. robustior (Robust Daisy) · E. disparipilus (White Cushion Fleabane) · E. divergens (Spreading Daisy) · E. eatonii (Eaton Fleabane) · E. eatonii Gray var. eatonii Gray (Eaton Fleabane) · E. eatonii Gray var. lavandulus Strother & Ferlatte (Eaton's Fleabane)

More Info

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Further Reading

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Notes

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Contributors

Data Sources

Accessed through GBIF Data Portal November 19, 2007:

Identifiers

Footnotes

  1. Guy L. Nesom "Erigeron". in Flora of North America Vol. 20 Page 3,9, 11, 12, 14, 17, 36, 204, 256, 257, 334. Oxford University Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
  2. Mean = 1,612.700 meters (5,291.011 feet), Standard Deviation = 628.900 based on 283 observations. Altitude information for each observation from British Oceanographic Data Centre. [back]
Last Revised: 7/15/2012