Tall Fleabane

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)

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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