Daisy fleabane
StarErigeron philadelphicus
Synonyms: Stenactis philadelphica, Tessenia philadelphia
Western Herbalism Properties
Traditional Uses
Philadelphia fleabane was a prominent medicinal herb across the eastern and northern woodlands. The Cherokee employed an infusion of the plant for coughs, colds, diarrhoea, and as a wash for headaches and sore eyes, and snuffed dried flowers up the nose to break up head colds (Hamel and Chiltoskey, 1975). The Ojibwa used the plant as a diaphoretic and as a smudge whose smoke was inhaled for head colds (Smith, 1932). The Iroquois prepared decoctions for hemorrhage from the lungs and for kidney complaints (Herrick, 1977). The Meskwaki used a poultice of the plant for headache and treated dysentery with a root infusion (Smith, 1928). The Blackfoot rolled the dried plant as a smoke to clear the head (Hellson, 1974), and the Houma made a decoction for menstrual irregularities (Speck, 1941). White settler herbalists adopted the related Erigeron canadensis and E. philadelphicus as eclectic astringent diuretics for diarrhea, hemorrhage, and urinary complaints (King's American Dispensatory, 1898).
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Botanical Description
Erigeron philadelphicus is a soft-pubescent biennial or short-lived perennial herb of the Asteraceae family standing 20-90 cm tall from a short fibrous-rooted crown that often produces winter rosettes. The stem is slender, leafy, simple below and branched in the inflorescence, clothed throughout in fine spreading hairs. Basal leaves are obovate to spatulate, 4-15 cm long, coarsely toothed to shallowly lobed, narrowed to a winged petiole; cauline leaves are alternate, oblong to lanceolate, sessile and prominently clasping the stem with rounded auricles, becoming smaller upward. The inflorescence is a loose terminal corymb of several to many flower heads, each 1.5-2.5 cm across and held on slender hairy peduncles. Each head has an involucre of narrowly lanceolate green bracts about 4-6 mm long in nearly one row and is conspicuous for its very numerous (100-400) extremely slender thread-like ray florets 4-8 mm long, ranging from pale lavender-pink to nearly white, surrounding a small yellow disc of tubular florets. The fruit is a small flattened pubescent cypsela about 1 mm long with a double pappus of fine white bristles. Native across most of temperate North America from Alaska and Newfoundland south to Mexico, in moist meadows, woodland edges, roadsides and fields.
This information is for educational purposes only and is not intended to replace professional medical advice. Always consult a qualified healthcare provider before using any herbal remedy, especially if you are pregnant, nursing, or taking medications.
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