ERIGERON SUMATRENSIS
Common Names:- None
Synonyms:- Conyza sumatrensis
Meaning:- Erigeron (Gr) Early-old-man. A name used by the Greek philosopher
Theophrastus for early flowering fleabanes.
Sumatrensis (L) From Sumatra, Indonesia.
General description:- Short to tall, densely hairy annual.
Stems:-
1) to 1.5 m.
Leaves:-
1) Alternate, narrowly oblanceolate, obtusely serrate; densely hairy, petiolate.
2) Uppers entire, sessile and very narrow.
3) Lower oval-lengthened and often deciduous before flowering.
Flowers:-
1) Ray-florets, white, scarcely longer than the yellow disk-florets, joined together in
a capitula from 5 to 7 mm length.
2) Bracts, of the involucre in large numbers, unequal, generally hairy outside.
3) Involucre, almost in the shape of half-sphere.
4) Inflorescences, with long lateral branches.
5) Phyllaries, not red-tipped.
Fruit:-
1) Achenes surmounted by a reddish or dirty white pappus, with hairs placed on
only one row.
Key features:-
1) Leaves obtusely serrate.
2) Terminal inflorescence with more than 50 capitula.
3) Phyllaries not red-tipped.
Habitat:- Streambanks, roadsides, olive groves and ruderal habitats. 0-500 m.
Distribution:- Scattered throughout Greece. - Native of the Americas, now
naturalised as a weed almost worldwide. Sparsely scattered across W Crete, with
one known location near Ierapetra in the east. Probably under recorded.
Flowering time:- Mainly May to Sept.
Photos by:- Kind permission of Saxifraga - Free Nature Images and Wiki-Commons