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Erigeron compositus; photograph (c) Cody Hinchliff, some rights reserved (CC BY) CC BY(c) Cody Hinchliff, some rights reserved (CC BY) · observed growing wild · 2026-09-06

Erigeron compositus Pursh

Dwarf mountain fleabane; Cut-leaved fleabane; Cutleaf daisy; Compound fleabane

Asteraceae · Kamchatka, Magadan +22

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Erigeron compositus, photograph (c) Matt Berger, some rights reserved (CC BY)Erigeron compositus, photograph (c) Peter L Achuff, some rights reserved (CC BY)Erigeron compositus, photograph (c) cigazze, some rights reserved (CC BY)Erigeron compositus, photograph (c) cigazze, some rights reserved (CC BY)Erigeron compositus, photograph (c) Cody Hinchliff, some rights reserved (CC BY)Erigeron compositus, photograph (c) Jake Anderson, some rights reserved (CC BY) 72 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
-25.9°C
Record low -40.3 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
22°C
Jul and Aug at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
628mm
12 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
8–47DLI
Lowest to highest month (DLI) CHELSA
The year in your months, northern hemisphere
  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec
Rain spread: 70% of the median year's rain takes 8 months, so no short rainy season. rain rule, CHELSA
Northern hemisphere unless you set your site. The chart is in the habitat's months.

Summary

Erigeron compositus is an Arctic and alpine species of fleabane in the family Asteraceae. Common names include dwarf mountain fleabane, cutleaf daisy, and trifid mountain fleabane.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Erigeron compositus", CC BY-SA 4.0.

About the genus · Erigeron

Erigeron is a large genus of plants in the composite family (Asteraceae). It is placed in the tribe Astereae and is closely related to the Old World asters (Aster) and the true daisies (Bellis). The genus has a cosmopolitan distribution, and the highest diversity occurs in North America.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Erigeron", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Seasons

The rain rule reads no short rainy season: 70% of the median year's rain (423 mm of 594 mm) takes 8 months, October to January and March to June. Mean temperature moves 23.4 °C between the warmest and coldest month. Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: April to July and September to December.

Rain

594 mm in the median year at the habitat, 423 mm of it October to January and March to June. Wettest month May at 65 mm, driest month February at 39 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 349 mm to 1,474 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 628 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 594 mm here is the median year's, the twelve monthly medians added, which the rain rule reads. Habitat calendar, northern hemisphere; median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA.

Light

Open sky over the habitat: 8 to 47 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 5, the highest 90th-percentile month 52).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is -25.9 °C, the absolute minimum -40.3 °C, 9,600 frost nights in 44 years, 218.2 a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 31.5 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low -12.6 °C in December (across the grid cells of the range -18.4 °C to -7.1 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 22.0 °C in July (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: -25.9 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range (NASA POWER).

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 50 to 61% across the year (monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

How this section is made

Each card states this species' habitat figures with their sources, and what two fixed rules read from them; nothing here says what the plant does, wants or tolerates. The rules · the terms.

Seasons. Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the grid cells of the range: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve moves 4 °C or more and the habitat lies 10° or more from the equator. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain. CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the grid cells of the range. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light. CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Temperature. NASA POWER daily minima and maxima over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, lapse-corrected -6 m to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range. The cold floor is the 1st-percentile night named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity. CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the grid cells of the range.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat months, northern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Erigeron compositus through the yearWarmest months July and August, mean daily high 22 °C; coldest month December, mean nightly low -12.6 °C; 594 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added). Medians across the range, from CHELSA; the extremes at the edge from NASA POWER. Habitat months, northern hemisphere.-60°-40°-20°0°20°40°frost31.5° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER-40.3° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter050100150200250mm rainDLI 8–47RH 50–61%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 1005 habitat cells, CHELSA cold quarter: the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low extremes over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, from NASA POWER, marked at the edge, in no month DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C-3 / -9–1-2 / -7–42 / -3–86 / 1–1312 / 7–1818 / 13–2322 / 17–2722 / 16–2717 / 11–229 / 3–141 / -5–6-4 / -11–1
Night °C-12 / -18–-7-11 / -17–-6-8 / -13–-3-5 / -9–00 / -5–55 / 0–108 / 4–138 / 4–134 / 0–8-2 / -7–3-8 / -14–-3-13 / -18–-7
Rain mm46 / 16–23139 / 15–18649 / 19–16553 / 21–10965 / 33–12260 / 30–13046 / 19–9543 / 18–9243 / 24–9047 / 26–11452 / 21–19351 / 18–222
DLI10 / 6–1917 / 13–2627 / 22–3536 / 32–4342 / 39–4945 / 41–5247 / 40–5241 / 34–4731 / 25–3820 / 14–2811 / 7–208 / 5–16
RH %61 / 52–6860 / 54–6457 / 53–6255 / 52–6054 / 50–5953 / 45–5950 / 42–5751 / 42–5652 / 45–5855 / 48–6260 / 51–6861 / 53–68
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 1005 grid cells holding the 1413 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. A dash is a month one or more of those cells has no figure for in the grid (a variable CHELSA does not carry there), so no median is taken rather than one over fewer cells. Extremes and elevation were read at a typical spot in the range, cell 953:1394 (42.325, -110.275). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -40.3 °C, 1st-percentile night -25.9 °C, 99th-percentile day 31.5 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Across the range: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 1005 distinct grid cells holding 1413 of the 1413 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 953:1394 (its coldest month's mean nightly low nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 42.50_-110.000, lapse-corrected -6 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 2228 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across the cells of the in-range records placed well enough to read one, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeKamchatka, Magadan, Alaska, Greenland, Nunavut, Northwest Territories, Yukon, Alberta, British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Newfoundland, Québec, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington, Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota, Arizona, California, Nevada, Utah · regions are the level-3 units of the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, as Kew's World Checklist records ranges, some under historical names such as Yugoslavia or Czechoslovakia (how).
Map marker50.237, -114.518 · in the densest population, 1018 records (56% of those in range)
Kew's description“subalpine or subarctic” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 1805 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 1413 of them placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 899 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 553 km away. 1 record outside the WCVP native range not used. 392 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km, or with no stated accuracy (admitted only as a person's observation to three decimals), and stay on the map but off the climate.
How this section is made
The map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population inside the densest 4° block of the 1805 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Erigeron compositus, photograph 1did not loadErigeron compositus, photograph 2did not loadErigeron compositus, photograph 3did not loadErigeron compositus, photograph 4did not loadErigeron compositus, photograph 5did not loadErigeron compositus, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: (c) Matt Berger, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Peter L Achuff, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) cigazze, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); (c) Cody Hinchliff, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Jake Anderson, some rights reserved (CC BY).

Similar habitat climate The 6 nearest by mean daily high, mean nightly low and rain, month by month. How.

Penstemon procerus Penstemon procerus Small-flowered beardtongue Photo: CC BY, Matt BergerSedum lanceolatum Sedum lanceolatum Lance-leaved stonecrop Photo: CC0, author not statedAntennaria umbrinella Antennaria umbrinella Umber pussytoes Photo: CC0, author not statedAntennaria rosea Antennaria rosea Rosy pussytoes Photo: CC BY, Daughter DadDrymocallis pseudorupestris Drymocallis pseudorupestris False rock-loving cinquefoil Photo: CC BY, Daughter DadGeranium richardsonii Geranium richardsonii White geranium Photo: CC BY, Daughter Dad

Other Erigeron 67 in the reference

Erigeron acris Erigeron acris Blue fleabane Photo: CC0, author not statedErigeron alpiniformis Erigeron alpiniformis Alpine fleabane Photo: CC BY, Ingvild RiskaErigeron alpinus Erigeron alpinus Alpine fleabane Photo: CC BY, Claude KolwelterErigeron altaicus Erigeron altaicus Asteraceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Krzysztof Ziarnek, KenraizErigeron annuus Erigeron annuus Tall fleabane Photo: CC BY, Tom ScavoErigeron aphanactis Erigeron aphanactis Rayless shaggy fleabane Photo: CC0, author not statedErigeron atticus Erigeron atticus Greek fleabane Photo: CC BY, Yves BasErigeron aurantiacus Erigeron aurantiacus Orange daisy Photo: CC BY, Paul DufourErigeron aureus Erigeron aureus Alpine yellow fleabane Photo: CC BY, Caleb CattoErigeron bellioides Erigeron bellioides Bellorita Photo: CC0, author not statedErigeron bloomeri Erigeron bloomeri Scabland fleabane Photo: CC0, author not statedErigeron bonariensis Erigeron bonariensis Argentine fleabane Photo: CC BY, smathichong all 68 ›

Names & registers

Also known as Cineraria lewisiae; Cineraria lewisii; Erigeron compositus f. breviradiatus; Erigeron compositus f. compositus; Erigeron compositus f. deficiens and 24 more. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipediaiNaturalist

The record

Family
Asteraceae
Described by
Pursh
Native to
Kamchatka, Magadan, Alaska +21
Wild records
1805 in range · 899 open

Every figure here is derived from public data by a stated rule and names its source; nothing about this species is written for its page by a person or by AI, apart from the marked, credited quotations. How →

Where this page came from built 2026-10-22
GBIF species record gbif.species answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF synonyms gbif.synonyms answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF common names gbif.vernacular answeredasked 2026-10-22names fetched 2026-10-22
WCVP native range wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04
GBIF occurrence records gbif.occurrences answeredas of 2026-10-21GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21; 2 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (1 at a botanic garden or arboretum, 1 at a zoo; Wikidata's list)
Habitat climate climate answeredasked 2026-10-22
Daily extremes (NASA POWER) climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-22NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 42.50_-110.000, lapse-corrected -6 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild answeredasked 2026-10-22from iNaturalist's open data of 2026-09-27: research-grade observations with an open-licence photograph, the 24 whose photographs iNaturalist received last (the open data holds no votes); filled 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, cultivated inat.photos.cultivated not asked
GBIF media gbif.media answeredasked 2026-10-22
OpenAlex papers openalex not askednot yet asked for this reference; a later fill takes the papers from OpenAlex's snapshot

Every source is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, refused, failed, not been asked, or answered twice where one answer is taken (“not taken: two items answered”), and, for a source asked when this page was built, when: the figures are as the source held them that day; a source read from a file (Kew's World Checklist, a GBIF download) says "as of" the file's day instead; a row carried from an earlier build of the page names that build instead. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 90 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

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