Tall Fleabane

Family: Daisy (Asteraceae syn. Compositae)

Scientific Name:

Conyza bonariensis (syn. Conyza ambigua, Conyza crispa, Erigeron bonariensis, Erigeron crispus, Erigeron linifolius)

Tall Fleabane plants
Photo: A J Brown

Other Common Names:

Hairy Horseweed, Flax-leaf Fleabane

Status:

Native to South America. Naturalised in North America, the Mediterranean and Australia.

Plant Description:

Erect, annual herb to 1 m tall with grey, stiff, bristle-like hairs. Stems densely hairy and unbranched below the flower-heads. Leaves oblong or narrow-oblanceolate, 4-9 cm long and 5-15 mm wide with toothed margins.

Flower-heads in a pyramidal panicle and each head (made up of many individual linear flowers) 5-6 mm long and 8-12 mm diameter. Fruit an oblong, pale, softly hairy, achene with a white to pale pink pappus. Flowers over late spring to autumn.

Habitat:

Widespread throughout Victoria, growing on roadsides and in waste places and disturbed ground. Essentially a fresh-water species, Tall Fleabane can also found fringing saltmarsh and saline swamps and lakes.

Region	Salinity Class	Waterlogging Class
Mallee, Loddon Murray, Central and Northern, Wimmera, Western, Gippsland	S0, S1, S2	W0, W1, W2

*likely to have higher salt tolerance during wetter summers.

Comments:

Similar to other introduced fleabanes, such as Canadian Fleabane (Conyza canadensis)

Talle Fleabane photos

Leaves and stem of Tall Fleabane Photo: A J Brown	Flower-heads of Tall Fleabane Photo: A J Brown
Tall Fleabane plant Photo: A J Brown	Stem of Tall Fleabane Photo: A J Brown
Flower-bud of Tall Fleabane Photo: A J Brown	Tall Fleabane fruit Photo: A J Brown

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