Foothills, montane, subalpine. Meadows. Spring, summer.
Above: Lower Calico National Recreation Trail, June 17, 2014; Bear Creek Trail, June 14, 2005. Below: Scotch Creek, June 6, 2012.

This very common Erigeron sends out runners (abundant in the lower half of the photograph immediately above and in the photograph immediately below) and colonizes large areas along roadsides and, as the top photograph shows, in meadows. (That's our pup, Willi Coyote, in the upper right of the photograph.)  In the five and six o'clock positions of the photograph above, you can see where the runners have rooted and tiny new plants are growing.  In this manner thousands of square feet of meadows are often dotted white with Erigeron flagellaris.

The runners give rise to the common names: "Trailing Fleabane", and "Whiplash Daisy".  The Latin specific epithet, "flagellaris", means "whip".

Augustus Fendler first collected this plant in 1846 in New Mexico and it was described and named by Asa Gray in 1849.  

Erigerons often fool us into thinking they will have pink ray flowers, for the buds are commonly tinged pink.  But as the photograph shows, the drooping pink buds open brilliant white.  Most Erigerons do, however, have ray flowers that range from white to pink to light blue.

Numerous ray flowers are white; disk flowers are very densely packed and bright yellow. 

Basal leaves and most leaves on the runners are numerous, in clusters, light green, and narrow.

Range map © 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 flagellaris