Erigeron annuus, (L.) Pers.

Tutin, T. G., Heywood, V. H., Burges, N. A., Moore, D. M., Valentine, D. H., Walters, S. M. & Webb, D. A., 1976, Flora Europaea. Volume 4. Plantaginaceae to Compositae (and Rubiaceae), Cambridge University Press : 117

1. E. annuus (L.) Pers. , Syn. Pl. 2: 431 (1807)

( Stenactis annua (L.) Less. ).

Annual, biennial or perennial, glabrous or pubescent. Stem up to 8O(-15O)cm, erect, leafy, lacking basal rosettes at anthesis. Basal leaves up to 6 x 2-5 cm, broadly ovate or obovate, narrowly petiolate, dentate or subentire, usually with sparse, appressed hairs; lower cauline ovate-lanceolate, the upper lanceolate. Flowering stems branched above, with 3 to many capitula in a corymbiform panicle. Capitula medium-sized; florets dimorphic; ligules twice as long as the involucral bracts, white or pale blue. 2/z = 26, 27, 36. Waste places and disturbed ground. Formerly cultivatedfor ornament', now widely naturalized, especially in C. Europe. [Au Be Cz Da Ga Ge He Hs Hu It Ju Po Rm Rs (N, B, C, W).] (North America.)

A very variable apomictic species. European taxonomists have distinguished three subspecies, and subsp. (c) has often been given specific status.

1 Stem with short, appressed hairs (c) subsp. strigosus

1 Stem with patent hairs, at least below, or glabrous

2 Middle and lower cauline leaves strongly dentate; ligules usually pale blue (a) subsp. annuus

2 Middle and lower cauline leaves entire or weakly dentate; ligules white (b) subsp. septentrionalis