Erigeron Acris

Day 297: As a general rule, I dismiss DPDs ("damn purple daisies") from my personal list of Wildflowers of Interest. I can look across a field of lavender-hued asters without seeing them as anything but background noise. However, this miniature version won a special place in my heart when I discovered it several years ago. As opposed to most other DPDs, this one is quite small, standing no more than six inches tall (and that would be a stretch). It's easy to overlook, and perhaps that's what caught my eye originally: I don't look for something. I look at the whole scene and my eye is automatically drawn to what is unusual in it. This is Erigeron acris, "acris" meaning "sour, bitter," thus leading to the plant's common name of "Bitter Fleabane." The flowers are very pale lavender, almost white, and the greyish-green leaves camouflage it quite effectively in the dry, rocky areas in which it is frequently found. When mature, the plant's fuzzy seed heads look like miniature dandelion puffs, each seed (achene) attached to its own parachute of fluff (pappus), ready to be carried away on the winds of autumn.