Marsh fleabane: a closer look

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In the last post you saw a drying colony of marsh fleabane, Pluchea odorata, at Devine Lake Park in Leander on November 19, 2013. Here’s a much closer look at a single one of those plants. The gone-to-seed fuzziness is typical of many species in the Asteraceae, the huge botanical family that includes sunflowers, daisies, asters, and many plants whose flowers don’t look like those better-known ones.

© 2014 Steven Schwartzman

Marsh fleabane colony gone to seed

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One reason for Pluchea odorata to be called marsh fleabane is that it grows on marshy ground. I found this drying colony at Devine Lake Park in Leander on November 19, 2013. Monotone isn’t necessarily monotonous, but if you’d like a colorful reminder of what one of these plants looks like when fresh, you can take a look back at a post from the early months of this column.

© 2014 Steven Schwartzman