{"id":88902,"date":"2024-08-12T09:48:09","date_gmt":"2024-08-12T16:48:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.clminternship.org\/?p=88902"},"modified":"2024-08-12T09:48:09","modified_gmt":"2024-08-12T16:48:09","slug":"a-fleabane-by-any-other-name-is-not-what-were-looking-for","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.clminternship.org\/?p=88902","title":{"rendered":"A fleabane by any other name… is not what we’re looking for"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Aspen Fleabane! Erigeron speciosus! <\/em>Lost in a sea of purple Erigerons<\/em>, where is the species we need? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s month number two of the CLM internship for us here on the Big Horn National Forest. Things are heating up (to nearly record high temperatures in Sheridan, WY , at 105 degrees Fahrenheit!) which means things are approaching full swing up on the mountain, floristically. Several plants that are on our collection list have gone to seed. Many more are now in full bloom\u2014including those in the genus Erigeron.<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The botanically uninitiated are faced with the \u201cgreen wall\u201d when first looking out on a leafy landscape, before learning to differentiate between the many plants that make up the community. With these fleabanes, we\u2019re facing a new frontier\u2014the \u201cpurple wall\u201d. In some genera, there are only a few species in the state\u2019s flora. In the genus Monarda, <\/em>for example, there are only 2 species native to Wyoming, Monarda fistulosa <\/em>(a plant on our target species list for collection!) and Monarda pectinata<\/em>. This makes it pretty easy to be confident when we see our Monarda<\/em> out in the field. Not so with fleabane. There are over 50 species in the Wyoming flora, and almost every single one has bright yellow disk flowers, and purplish to whitish ray flowers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
The many collections of Erigeron<\/em> we’ve made to help ID the correct one<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Many Erigeron <\/em>to choose from in the key<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019ve found that quite a few of the other plant enthusiasts on iNaturalist share our confusion; we\u2019ve showed up on the sites of several iNat observations of Aspen fleabane, and have found several different versions of plants that match the description of yellow disk, purple rays\u2014so which is really Aspen fleabane?  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n
Left: Too small, Middle: An annual, Right: In an aspen grove, but hairy! (This is Erigeron subtrinervis<\/em>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In this case, a pretty cool clue for where to look can be found in the common name! We\u2019ve found many purple fleabanes that don\u2019t look quite right when wandering through sagebrush, along lake shores, or up on rocky outcroppings; but when we find ourselves in stands of aspen, we find that the plants start to line up closer with our description of Aspen fleabane! That being said, there are still subtle distinctions between species that we have to watch out for\u2014Erigeron subtrinervis, <\/em>or Three-veined fleabane, looks very similar to Aspen fleabane and can also be found growing in stands of aspen, but instead of a smooth stem and leaves, it will have hairy stems and leaves. It\u2019s a minute detail, but when we send our seeds to the seed nursery and extractory in Couer d\u2019Alene, they\u2019ll want to see a voucher specimen that fits the bill. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s tough to find what we need, but we\u2019ve still got a moment before these tricky purple flowers go to seed. In any case, a shady, lush stand of aspens is always a great place to be, so I won\u2019t mind the search! <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Aspen Fleabane! Erigeron speciosus! Lost in a sea of purple Erigerons, where is the species we need?  It\u2019s month number two of the CLM internship for us here on the Big Horn National Forest. Things are heating up (to nearly … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7623,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[3634],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.clminternship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88902"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.clminternship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.clminternship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.clminternship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7623"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.clminternship.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=88902"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blog.clminternship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88902\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":89389,"href":"https:\/\/blog.clminternship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88902\/revisions\/89389"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.clminternship.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=88902"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.clminternship.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=88902"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.clminternship.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=88902"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}