In 1753 Linnaeus gave the genus its name from the Greek "eri" ("early") + "geron" ("old man", as in "geriatrics", the study of old age processes and problems).  Perhaps the Greek name refers to characteristics of some now unknown plant or perhaps it refers to the early flowering of many species and to the bristly pappus of the developing seed, or perhaps to the puffy, grizzled appearance of the mature seed head.

Semi-desert.  Shrublands.  Spring.
Blackrock Canyon, Navajo Reservation, Arizona, May 12, 2007.

This silvery ("argentatus") gray-green Erigeron inhabits dry, open lands.  It is found in Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona in just the counties bordering the Four Corners, but it is found in most counties of Utah.  It was only found fairly recently on the Ute Mountain Ute Reservation in Colorado by Leslie Stewart.

Flowers range from the very pale lavender shown here to much brighter blue-lavender.  Several inch long basal leaves are tightly clustered.  Stem leaves are fewer and shorter.

The plant was named and described in 1873 by Asa Gray from a specimen that his student, botanical associate, and successor, Sereno Watson, found in Nevada.

Semi-desert.  Shrublands.  Spring.
Blackrock Canyon, Navajo Reservation, Arizona, May 12, 2007.

The phyllaries are sharply pointed and in three rows.

Semi-desert.  Shrublands.  Spring.
Blackrock Canyon, Navajo Reservation, Arizona, May 12, 2007.

Montane to alpine.  Meadows, openings.  Summer.
Cinnamon Pass, August 1, 2007.

This lovely Daisy is, in the words of Intermountain Flora, "a common and highly variable ... species" but quite distinct from other Erigerons, especially because of its deeply divided basal leaves.  E. compositus is primarily apomictic, i.e., it reproduces not by pollination of ovules but by parthenogenesis (Greek for "virgin birth").  Ovules develop into new life without being fertilized.  This accounts for the uniformity of characteristics in local populations.  Distant populations do differ, however, especially in pubescence and ray length.  Rayless forms are common according to Colorado plant authority, William Weber.  The plants grow from two to ten inches tall; the plant at left is six inches tall.  E. compositus enjoys rocky openings and can be found through most higher elevations, but in the Four Corners area (only in Colorado and Utah) it is chiefly found from high montane to alpine.  As is true for almost all of the blue Erigerons, the color of E. compositus varies from white to blue to pink. 

Frederick Pursh named this species in 1814 from a specimen collected by Meriwether Lewis in 1806 near Lewiston, Idaho.

Montane to alpine.  Meadows, openings.  Summer.
Cinnamon Pass, August 1, 2007.

Montane to alpine.  Meadows, openings.  Summer.
Cinnamon Pass, August 1, 2007.