Erigeron divergens is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae known by the common name spreading fleabane. It is native to western North America.

Erigeron divergens

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Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Asterales
Family: Asteraceae
Genus: Erigeron
Species:
E. divergens
Binomial name
Erigeron divergens
Synonyms[2]
  • Erigeron accedens Greene
  • Erigeron divaricatus Nutt. 1840, illegitimate homonym not Michx. 1803
  • Erigeron divaricatum Nutt.[1]
  • Erigeron incomptus A.Gray
  • Erigeron ramosus Raf.
  • Erigeron solisaltator G.L.Nesom

This plant is highly variable in form. It is an annual or perennial herb growing from a taproot and sometimes a caudex. It produces one to many stems 7 to 70 centimeters (3 to 27+12 inches) tall. It is a hairy plant, and the hairs are usually glandular, at least near the top of the stem. The basal leaves are 1 to 7 cm (12 to 3 in) long, and leaves higher on the stem are smaller. Flowering from April to September, the inflorescence can hold over 100 flower heads, each about 2.5 cm (1 in) wide.[3] The heads have 75 to 150 ray florets not more than 1 cm long which are white in color, fading purple, and sometimes absent. There are many yellow disc florets at the center. The fruit is seed-like and about 1 millimeter (116 in) long with bristles on the tip.[4][3]

The species exhibits agamospermy, asexual reproduction via seeds. Many, but not all, individuals are polyploid.[4] There are many similar species both inside and outside the genus.[3]

This plant can be found in the western half of the United States (as far east as western Texas),[3] the Canadian provinces of British Columbia and Alberta, and the Mexican states of Baja California, Chihuahua, Durango, Nuevo León,[5] and Sonora.[6][7] It occurs in many types of habitat, including desert shrublands and scrubs, grassland, meadows, pinyon–juniper woodland, oak and pine woodlands, riparian habitat, sagebrush, and disturbed areas.[4]

This plant had a number of uses in Native American traditional medicine. The Navajo used it as an aid in childbirth, as a lotion, an eyewash, and a treatment for snakebite and headache. It was a good luck charm among the Kiowa people.[8]

Erigeron divergens, Arches National Park

References

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  1. ^ Tropicos, Erigeron divaricatus Nutt.
  2. ^ The Plant List, Erigeron divergens Torr. & A.Gray
  3. ^ a b c d Spellenberg, Richard (2001) [1979]. National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Wildflowers: Western Region (rev ed.). Knopf. p. 371. ISBN 978-0-375-40233-3.
  4. ^ a b c Erigeron divergens. Flora of North America.
  5. ^ photo of herbarium specimen collected in Nuevo León in 1990
  6. ^ "Erigeron divergens". Germplasm Resources Information Network. Agricultural Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture. Retrieved 19 January 2018.
  7. ^ Biota of North America Program 2014 county distribution map
  8. ^ Erigeron divergens. Native American Ethnobotany. University of Michigan, Dearborn.
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