About Erigeron glacialis (Nutt.) A.Nelson
Erigeron glacialis, commonly known as the glacial daisy, glacial fleabane, subalpine fleabane, or wandering fleabane, is a perennial plant in the family Asteraceae native to western North America. It grows in the mountains of western North America, including the Cascades, the Sierra Nevada, and the Rocky Mountains, with populations found from Alaska and Yukon south as far as California, Arizona, and New Mexico. In the Sierra Nevada, it occurs in mixed coniferous and upper montane vegetation, and extends into the alpine zone up to 11,200 feet (3,400 m).
E. glacialis is a perennial herb that grows up to 70 cm (28 inches) tall. It has a thick taproot and spreads via underground rhizomes. Its leaves can reach up to 20 cm (8 inches) in length, and range in shape from linear-oblanceolate to broadly lanceolate or spatulate. Individual stems may produce either a single flower head, or a cluster of up to 8 heads. Each head holds up to 80 ray florets that can be white, blue, pink, or lavender, surrounding numerous yellow disc florets. It blooms between July and September. Two varieties are recognized: Erigeron glacialis var. glacialis, which occurs across most of the species' range, and Erigeron glacialis var. hirsutus (Cronquist) G.L.Nesom, which is found in California and Nevada.
