Erigeron acris Blue Fleabane

A hairy annual (sometimes perennial) plant up to 30cm or more tall with purple stems and small, tubular inflorescences which have short, pale purple rays florets and yellow disc florets. It prefers warm, well drained base-rich or neutral soils such as on sand dunes, open mosaic habitats, coal tips, walls, quarries, rock outcrops and other skeletal habitats. It is largely a southern species in Britain, absent from much of Scotland and mostly coastal in Wales where it is most common in the south. In West Glamorgan it is a common on sand dunes and on industrial and former industrial sites along the coast. It also occurs frequently along the gravelled edges of forest roads and on coal tips in the South Wales Coalfield.

Native