Tidy Fleabane (Erigeron concinnus)

(Fig. 01)

Picture Notes: I found this specimen (Fig. 01) of a Tidy Fleabane on 04/18/2013 while hiking down a very steep and ledge like wash from the Yucca Fossil Beds located in the Desert National Wildlife Range. The picture in (Fig. 02) was captured on 05/10/2012, while hiking Petroglyph Trail in the wash opposite the Willow Springs Picnic area in Red Rock Canyon.

Description: Tidy Fleabane (Erigeron concinnus), a.k.a. Navajo fleabane and Shaggy daisy, is a perennial flowering plant in the family Asteraceae, native to the dry mountains of the Mojave Desert around Death Valley in southeast California and Nevada. It can also be found in Idaho, Utah, Wyoming, Colorado and New Mexico. “Erigerons”, commonly called "Daisies" or "Fleabanes", are a large and complex genus; there are 130 species in North America and 200 world-wide. It grows at elevations of 3,600-6,000 feet. It grows in sandy to rocky soils, and can reach a height of 2.4 – 6.25 inches. The leaves are .5 to 2.25 inches long, lanceolate to linear, broadest near the rounded apex. The flowers are in a tight inflorescence 2.75 to 4.25 inch diameter, with white, pink, or blue ray florets (but not yellow) and yellow disk florets.

(Fig. 02)