Erigerons have yellow disk flowers and numerous, narrow ray flowers that are white, pink, or purple (but not yellow).

     Linnaeus named this genus in 1753.  The genus name is from the Greek "eri" ("early") + "geron" ("old man", as in "geriatrics"), perhaps referring to characteristics of some now unknown plant or perhaps to the early flowering of many species and to the bristly pappus of the developing seed or to the puffy, grizzled appearance of the mature seed head.

Subalpine.  Meadows.  Summer.
El Diente Trail, July 22, 2004.

Erigeron elatior has nodding, wooly, pink-tinged flower buds

and flowers with numerous very light lavender ray flowers. The whole plant is quite hairy and buds are especially fluffy looking. The plant tends to grow in clusters making it very eye-catching.  Leaves are usually light green and broader at the base than at the tapering and pointed tip.

"Elatior" is from the Latin for "tall".  Charles Parry collected this Erigeron in Colorado in 1861 and Asa Gray named it Erigeron grandiflorum variety elatius in 1862.  Edwin Greene gave it its present name in 1897.

Montane.  Woodlands.  Summer.
Little Taylor Creek Trail. August 20, 2007.

Erigeron eximius is found in all Four Corners states but it is often overlooked even though it can be abundant.  Along a short section of trail where I found this plant, it was showy in its typical fashion, spreading by underground roots and producing a mass of basal rosettes.  Very few of these rosettes produce flower stalks, as the photograph shows.  Click for more photographs showing the flower and stem leaves. 

Interestingly, as common as this plant is in Montezuma and Dolores Counties, Colorado, it is not recorded in either the University of Colorado Herbarium or in the Catalog of Four Corners Flora.  Such omissions are not uncommon; there is still much that amateur botanists can discover.

Click to see Oreochrysum parryi which, until it produces its small yellow flowers, can be confused with E. eximius, because it grows in similar habitats and also produces a vast number of basal leaves and few flowering stalks.

Edward Greene named this plant in 1898 from a specimen he collected in Colorado in 1896.  "Eximius" is Latin for "extraordinary" or "splendid".

Alpine.  Scree.  Summer.
Spiller-Helmet Ridge. August 9, 2005.

Although Erigeron leiomerus is quite small, it is easy to spot in the rock beds it calls home.  Tufts of narrow leaves (often folded inward) are frequently in tight, four inch diameter mats sporting up to a dozen or so flowers on straight but often leaning stems.  Flower color ranges from lavender to light violet to white, but buds are usually pink/purple, as shown in the second picture below.

"Leios" is Greek for "smooth"  and "merus", "parts", probably referring to stem and leaves.  Charles Parry, famous Colorado botanist, collected this lovely plant around 1880 and Asa Gray named it in 1884.

Alpine.  Scree.  Summer.
Spiller-Helmet Ridge. August 9, 2005.

More Erigeron leiomerus photographs.