This page shows white Erigerons; click for more white Erigerons.  Click for blue Erigerons.

      In 1753 Linnaeus gave the genus its name from the Greek "eri" ("early") + "geron" ("old man"  --  "geriatrics" is the study of old age processes and problems).  Perhaps the Greek name refers 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.

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Semi-desert. Sandy areas. Spring.
The Hogback, New Mexico, April 24, 2007.

This annual ranges from about two inches to fifteen inches tall with many to few flower heads, depending on growing conditions.  Shown here, the plant is diminutive because the soil and moisture are not very favorable.

Thomas Nuttall named and described this species in 1841 from a specimen he collected near the Platte River in the Rockies on the Wyeth Expedition of 1834-1837.  "Bellidiastrum" is Latin for "similar to the Sunflower genus 'Bellis' ".

Semi-desert. Sandy areas. Spring.
The Hogback, New Mexico, April 24, 2007.

Outer ray petals range from white to pink.

Foothills. Shrublands, meadows. Summer.
Navajo Reservation above Teec Nos Pos, Arizona, June 24, 2006.

Erigeron canus grows from two to twelve inches tall in the foothills and plains.  Flowers are relatively large (to about an inch in diameter) and are white or blue.  In the Four Corners area, the plant occurs throughout northeast Arizona and northwest New Mexico, and it has recently been found in Montezuma County in the very southwest corner of Colorado.  

Asa Gray named this plant in 1849 from a specimen collected by Augustus Fendler near Santa Fe, New Mexico in 1846.  "Canus" is Latin for "gray".

Semi-desert, foothills.  Openings. Spring.
Canyon of the Ancients National Monument, April 18, 2007.

This Erigeron appears blurry as one approaches it because it is so completely covered in fine hairs that project at right angles from every surface.  Flowers range from white to light blue. 

There is some disagreement over the name of this plant.  It was first named Distasis concinna by Hooker and Arnot in 1839 and has since undergone several name changes.  Weber, The Flora of North America, and Kartesz accept Torrey and Gray's 1841 Erigeron concinnus; Welsh and Intermountain accept Dorn's 1988 Erigeron pumilus variety  concinnus.  "Concinnus" means "pretty".

Semi-desert, foothills.  Openings. Spring.
Canyon of the Ancients National Monument, April 18, 2007.

Semi-desert, foothills.  Openings. Spring.
Canyon of the Ancients National Monument, April 27, 2007.

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