Erigeron karvinskianus

Mexican fleabane ( Erigeron karvinskianus )

The Mexican fleabane ( Erigeron karvinskianus ) is a plant from the sunflower family ( Asteraceae). This type is also known under the name Spanish daisies, Karwinsky - fleabane or wall Daisies.

Description

Vegetative characteristics

The Mexican fleabane is a basally woody, perennial, herbaceous plant with loosely branched stems. The carpet -forming plant can reach heights of growth from 10 to 100 cm, the carpet up to 1 m scale. Your gray-green leaves are elliptic- lanceolate, hairy and can grow up to 4 cm long.

Inflorescence and flowers

In the summer, either singly or in loose umbrella- recolor with two to five basket- shaped inflorescences, which have a diameter of about 2 cm, open white and color later on pink to purple. The flower head is, as with many representatives of the subfamily of herbaceous, from two different types of flowers: tubular and ray florets. Firstly, from 45 to 80 white, later to purple, zygomorphic ray florets ( = ray florets ), which are about 5 to 6 mm long, and on the other of yellow tubular flowers ( = disc florets ) that are about 2 to 3.1 mm long and form the center of the basket. The flower heads are reminiscent of the daisy. The flowering period extends from spring to autumn.

Fruits

Showing 1 to 1.4 mm long, formed zweirippige achenes. The pappus of the achenes consists of 15 to 27 bristles.

Distribution area

The original home is South and Central America (Mexico, Guatemala to Panama).

To Europe it was introduced in the 18th century as an ornamental plant. Today the species is established as a neophyte on all islands of the Azores, Madeira, the Canary Islands and in southern Europe to the Southern Switzerland (eg, in the canton of Ticino. Frequently it grows there to damp walls, gorges and cliffs at altitudes of 800 meters. The type can form dense carpets that can suppress the natural vegetation.

There is a special plant community Erigerontetum karvinskiani Oberd. 1969 Wall locations where you will find the fleabane in the company of plants such as Antirrhinum majus, Asarina procumbens, Capparis spinosa, Erysimum cheiri and Centranthus ruber, Corydalis lutea and Cymbalaria muralis ..

As an ornamental plant, the varieties of this species are often cultivated as an annual plant; but it can also survive the winter in Central Europe with some protection.