E-Flora BC: Electronic Atlas of the Flora of British Columbia

Erigeron peregrinus subsp. callianthemus (Banks ex Pursh) Greene (Greene) Cronquist
subalpine daisy (subalpine fleabane)
Asteraceae (Aster family)

Introduction to Vascular Plants

© Alex Fraser Research Forest  Email the photographer   (Photo ID #11122)

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Distribution of Erigeron peregrinus subsp. callianthemus
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Species Information

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General:
Perennial herb from a rhizome or short, stout stem-base; stems erect, simple, glabrous to moderately long-hairy below, usually densely long-hairy beneath the heads, 5-70 cm tall.
Leaves:
Basal leaves linear-lanceolate to linear-oblanceolate or broadly oblanceolate to spoon-shaped, tapering to the stalk, glabrous, often long-fringed with small hairs on the margins or sometimes sparsely long-hairy on the main veins or over the entire surfaces, 1-20 cm long, 0.2-4.5 cm wide; lower stem leaves similar; middle and upper stem leaves linear to broadly egg-shaped, occasionally more or less clasping, up to 8 cm long and 3 cm wide, sometimes lacking in smaller forms.
Flowers:
Heads with ray and disk flowers, mostly solitary, sometimes as many as 8, the disks 10-25 mm wide; involucres 7.5-11 mm tall; involucral bracts glandular and rarely with a few hairs (ssp. callianthemus) or long-hairy or sometimes sticky and fringed with small hairs (ssp. peregrinus), linear, tapering to a slender tip, loose, mostly rather leafy and about equal; ray flowers 30-80, reddish- to dark-purplish, lavender or sometimes white, 8-25 mm long, 2-4 mm wide; disk flowers 4-6 mm long.
Fruits:
Achenes asymmetrically 4- to 7-nerved, sparsely hairy; pappus single and of 20-30 bristles or double and the outer of a few scales.
Notes:
Cronquist (1947) has provided the only comprehensive treatment for this extremely variable complex. Unfortunately, he was unable to observe all seven varieties he recognized in the field. In the Pacific Northwest these varieties, which were based mainly on plant size and leaf shape, often grow together and show a continuous variation reflecting the harshness of the micro-habitats. Even the two subspecies recognized here intergrade frequently where the ranges overlap in BC and WA. The two subspecies may be separated as follows:

1. Involucral bracts long-hairy or sometimes sticky and fringed with small hairs margins............................ ssp. peregrinus

1. Involucral bracts glandular, rarely with a few long hairs.............................. ssp. callianthemus (Greene) Cronq.

Source: The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia

Habitat / Range

Wet to moist stream banks, open forests, rocky slopes and meadows in all but the steppe zone; ssp. peregrinus - common in and W of the Coast-Cascade Mountains, rare E of the Coast-Cascade Mountains, ssp. callianthemus - common throughout BC except absent on the Queen Charlotte Islands; N to AK and YT, E to AB, and S to UT, NM and CA.

Source: The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia

Ecology

Ecological Framework for Erigeron peregrinus ssp. callianthemus

The table below shows the species-specific information calculated from
original data (BEC database) provided by the BC Ministry of Forests and Range.
(Updated August, 2013)

Site Information
Value / Class

Minimum

Average

Maximum

Elevation (metres) 1221 1930 2279
Slope Gradient (%) 0 29 95
Aspect (degrees)
[0 - N; 90 - E; 180 - S; 270 - W]
10 169 287
Soil Moisture Regime (SMR)
[0 - very xeric; 4 - mesic;
8 - hydric]
0 3 7
Modal Nutrient Regime
Class
C
Number of field plots
 species was recorded in:
30
Modal BEC Zone Class
ESSF
All BEC Zones (# of stations/zone) species was recorded in: ESSF(29), SWB(1)

Climate

The climate type for this species, as reported in the: "British Columbia plant species codes and selected attributes. Version 6 Database" (Meidinger et al. 2008), is not evaluated, unknown or variable.

Synonyms and Alternate Names

Erigeron callianthemus Greene
Erigeron peregrinus subsp. callianthemus
Erigeron peregrinus subsp. callianthemus
Erigeron peregrinus var. angustifolius (A. Gray) Cronquist
Erigeron peregrinus var. eucallianthemus Cronquist
Erigeron peregrinus var. scaposus (Torr. & A. Gray) Cronquist

Taxonomic and Nomenclatural Links

Additional Photo Sources

General References