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| Mystery wild plant in backyard (Photo by gardenfairy) |
This is one of the wild plants in our backyard about which I have been curious for the past few years. The plant seemed to be biennial, considering that only its rosette base grew last year. I begged bodhilens to mow it around last spring so that I could find out what it is this spring. I initially thought it might be a kind of mullein because the forage was oval and velvety, then I wished it were white borage when someone at Garden Forums suggested that it might be a plant that belongs to the family of Boraginacease. When the flowers bloomed, however, it became obvious that they were neither mullein nor borage but appeared to belong to the genus of Erigeron in the family of Asteraceae, most likely Eastern daisy fleabane or Philadelphia fleabane.
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| Eastern daisy or Philadelphia fleabane (Photo by bodhilens) |
According to some online sources, the name "fleabane" came from the belief that the dried plants repelled fleas, and people used to hang the dried plants in barns. We seem to have lost the wisdom, but birds, particularly starlings, still line their nests with the plants to repell mites.
