Those Damn Daisies!

Day 311: The botanical equivalent of the birder's "LBJ" (Little Brown Job) or "LBG" (Little Grey Bird) is expressed somewhat more emotionally. We deal with "Damn Daisies." The Asteraceae (formerly Compositae) is the largest family of plants in the world with a membership numbering close to 24,000. Of course this includes a diversity of appearances, but if you see something which looks daisy-like...well, it's a Damn Daisy.

I have used the popular terminology many times over the last week as I tried to sort out just which Damn Daisy this mini-model was. I sent it off to Arnie, who by way of response sent me a photo of chicken-of-the-woods fungus and a note, "Mine are easier to identify than yours." It was back to the drawing board for me, and late Friday evening, I sent Arnie an exultant email: "Erigeron acris, suspect it's var. debilis!" I'm sure he'll be glad the mystery was laid to rest when he sees it Monday morning.

The ray flowers of this species are noted for being very narrow, and the plant is quite small, standing no more than 8" in height. The flower is approximately 1/2" in width, and may be white or pale lavender. The pappus (modified calyx) extends beyond ("surpasses") the central disk flowers. The common name reflects a term applied to a number of different Asteraceae: Bitter Fleabane, but its folkloric reputation for repelling fleas is a myth.

Botany Of The Cosmos

Day 330: What is "a flower?" Maybe it's not as easy to define as it sounds. Let's take a Cosmos blossom and break it down. Cosmos belong to the family of composites (Asteraceae), a word which might give you a clue that there's more going on here than meets the eye. In the most basic terms, there are two types of "flower" in the makeup of a Cosmos bloom: ray flowers (the "petals") and disk flowers (the "center"). What we commonly refer to as a Cosmos "flower" is in fact a head bearing many small flowers. You can see this in the closeup example, upper right. If you examine the disk through a hand lens, the smaller flowers will become apparent. Depending on the plant species, disk flowers may be a mix of male and female as they are in Cosmos, or male and female flowers may be borne on different heads, in which case they are referred to a "staminate" or "pistillate" depending on the sex. The microscope views show both sexes of Cosmos disk flowers, the brown stamens of the males obvious in the center right image, females lower right. The "birds-and-bees" of botany is quite a complicated process!

Eriophyllum Lanatum, Oregon Sunshine

Day 297: When a plant is said to be a "composite" (i.e., it belongs to the family Asteraceae), the term refers to the structure of the inflorescence. The blossom (a non-scientific and indefinite word) as we perceive it actually contains two different types of flower: ray and disk. In many cases, the showy ray flowers (usually sterile) surround a tight cluster of much tinier disk flowers containing the plant's reproductive parts. The ray flowers serve as attractors for pollinators. Oregon Sunshine (Eriophyllum Lanatum, aka Woolly Sunflower) is an excellent example of a composite.

When botanizing with Your Humble Narrator, you would find that I generally break subalpine composites into two categories: yellow daisies and purple daisies. Both occur at Mount Rainier National Park in abundant numbers and varieties. The field guides and manuals required to distinguish many of them would easily fill an expedition-sized backpack, although Oregon Sunshine's woolly, silvery leaves clearly set it apart from the rest.