Daisy Fleabane

Asteraceae

LIFE FORM: Annual

NATIVITY: North America

VEGETATIVE CHARACTERISTICS:

A robust plant that can grow to 3 or 4 feet tall with alternate, jagged-edged leaves.

FLOWERS:

Produces numerous, white, daisy-like flowers about a half inch in diameter.

FRUIT/DISPERSAL AGENTS:

Spreads rapidly from seed.

ECOLOGICAL PREFERENCE:

Grows best in fertile soil in full sun. Prefers minimally maintained public parks and open space; vacant lots and rubble dump sites; unmowed highway banks and median strips with frequent salt applications; railroad tracks with ballast substrate.

ENVIRONMENTAL FUNCTION:

Disturbance-adapted colonizer.

CULTURAL SIGNIFICANCE:

Used medicinally by native Americans; when burned is said to drive away fleas and gnats.