Click to read about the Erigeron genus.

Semi-desert, foothills.  Openings. Spring.
Above and left: Canyons of the Ancients National Monument, April 27 and April 18, 2007.

Erigeron concinnus is a common Erigeron of the lower elevations.  It is fairly easy to recognize because it very commonly looks blurred due to a myriad of fine hairs that project from leaves and stems. A close look refocuses our eyes and we see the trickster hairs.

Erigeron concinnus commonly grows in 4-12 inch diameter clusters with multiple stems topped by nodding buds. Stems and buds eventually straighten and buds open to white or light blue flower heads.

There is some disagreement over the name of this plant.  It was first named Distasis concinna by Hooker and Arnot in 1839 and it was renamed Erigeron concinnus var. concinnus by Torrey and Gray in their 1841 Flora of North America. It has since undergone several other name changes.  Weber, The Flora of North America, and Kartesz accept Torrey and Gray's 1841 Erigeron concinnus; Welsh and Intermountain Flora accept Dorn's 1988 Erigeron pumilus variety concinnus.

Those floras which accept both species, E. concinnus and E. pumilus, indicate that the differences between the two species are quite minute. For instance, both taxa have two rows of pappus hairs, but the outer row of E. concinnus pappus hairs are short scales, and the outer row of pappus hairs on E. pumilus are very short bristles. Click to read how Erigeron expert Guy Nesom separates the two species. 

"Concinnus" means "neat, elegant, well-made", i.e., "pretty".

Semi-desert, foothills.  Openings. Spring.
Canyons of the Ancients National Monument, April 18 and 27, 2007.

Semi-desert, foothills.  Openings. Spring.
Canyons of the Ancients National Monument, April 16, 2012.

Semi-desert, foothills.  Openings. Spring.
Hawkins Preserve, Cortez, Colorado, May 19, 2018.

Erigeron concinnus has a tap root, but it also has variably sized caudices (woody bases to its herbaceous stems). The second photograph at left zooms in on these caudices and you can see that each caudex branches. From the nodes on each caudex branch new bundles of leaves and then flower stems emerge. Tight clusters of plants are commonly 7-12 inches wide; those shown at left growing in a drought year are just 4 inches wide  --  and only about 5 inches tall.

Range maps © John Kartesz,
Floristic Synthesis of North America

State Color Key

Species present in state and native
Species present in state and exotic
Species not present in state

County Color Key

Species present and not rare
Species present and rare
Species extirpated (historic)
Species extinct
Species noxious
Species exotic and present
Native species, but adventive in state
Eradicated
Questionable presence

Range map for Erigeron concinnus