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Erigeron pulchellus; photograph author not stated, no rights reserved CC0author not stated, no rights reserved · observed growing wild · 2026-08-22

Erigeron pulchellus Michx.

Robin's plantain; Robin's-plantain fleabane; Poor robin's-plantain; Hairy fleabane

Asteraceae · Ontario, Québec +34

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Erigeron pulchellus, photograph (c) The Earthmonk Journal, some rights reserved (CC BY)Erigeron pulchellus, photograph (c) The Earthmonk Journal, some rights reserved (CC BY)Erigeron pulchellus, photograph (c) The Earthmonk Journal, some rights reserved (CC BY)Erigeron pulchellus, photograph (c) The Earthmonk Journal, some rights reserved (CC BY)Erigeron pulchellus, photograph author not stated, no rights reservedErigeron pulchellus, photograph author not stated, no rights reserved 82 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
-16.2°C
Record low -27.9 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
28°C
Jul at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
1,235mm
12 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
11–39DLI
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 pulchellus, the Robin's plantain, poor Robin's plantain, blue spring daisy or hairy fleabane, is a North American species of plants in the family Asteraceae. It is widespread across much of the United States and Canada from Québec and Ontario south as far as eastern Texas and the Florida Panhandle.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Erigeron pulchellus", 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 (862 mm of 1,228 mm) takes 8 months, March to September and November. Mean temperature moves 24.1 °C between the warmest and coldest month. Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: September to March and May.

Rain

1,228 mm in the median year at the habitat, 862 mm of it March to September and November. Wettest month July at 117 mm, driest month February at 83 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 937 mm to 1,583 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 1,235 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 1,228 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: 11 to 39 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 9, the highest 90th-percentile month 41).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is -16.2 °C, the absolute minimum -27.9 °C, 5,787 frost nights in 44 years, 131.5 a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 34.4 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low -5.4 °C in January (across the grid cells of the range -11.8 °C to -0.5 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 27.6 °C in July (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: -16.2 °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: 56 to 60% 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 +53 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 pulchellus through the yearWarmest month July, mean daily high 28 °C; coldest month January, mean nightly low -5.4 °C; 1,228 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.-40°-20°0°20°40°frost34.4° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER-27.9° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter0255075100125150mm rainDLI 11–39RH 56–60%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 1179 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 °C3 / -3–94 / 0–119 / 5–1615 / 12–2021 / 18–2525 / 23–2928 / 25–3127 / 24–3023 / 20–2716 / 13–2111 / 7–155 / 0–10
Night °C-5 / -12–-1-4 / -10–1-1 / -5–55 / 2–1010 / 8–1416 / 13–1918 / 16–2118 / 15–2114 / 11–178 / 5–113 / -1–6-3 / -8–1
Rain mm86 / 42–13483 / 42–147103 / 56–144104 / 82–129110 / 94–141115 / 98–142117 / 98–149109 / 87–136104 / 86–13098 / 71–126100 / 68–12899 / 52–146
DLI13 / 11–1719 / 18–2226 / 25–2933 / 31–3637 / 35–3939 / 38–4138 / 37–4134 / 33–3628 / 26–3021 / 18–2414 / 11–1811 / 9–15
RH %59 / 57–6357 / 56–6156 / 55–5856 / 55–5758 / 55–6059 / 57–6159 / 57–6260 / 58–6360 / 58–6259 / 57–6059 / 57–6159 / 57–63
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 1179 grid cells on land that hold in-range records (1528 records in those cells; 1 more cell holds records but no land by the elevation layer, so those records sit at sea and the cell is left out), 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 992:2086 (40.375, -75.675). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -27.9 °C, 1st-percentile night -16.2 °C, 99th-percentile day 34.4 °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 1179 distinct grid cells holding 1528 of the 1529 in-range records (1 further cell with records at sea, by the elevation layer, left out); extremes and elevation at the typical cell 992:2086 (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 40.50_-75.625, lapse-corrected +53 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 232 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.
NativeOntario, Québec, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Oklahoma, Wisconsin, Connecticut, Indiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode I., Vermont, West Virginia, Texas, Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia · 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 marker35.624, -83.09 · in the densest population, 1176 records (65% of those in range)
Kew's description“temperate” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 1820 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 1528 of them in the land cells it reads, of 1529 placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 475 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 32 km away. 6 records outside the WCVP native range not used. 291 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 1820 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 pulchellus, photograph 1did not loadErigeron pulchellus, photograph 2did not loadErigeron pulchellus, photograph 3did not loadErigeron pulchellus, photograph 4did not loadErigeron pulchellus, photograph 5did not loadErigeron pulchellus, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: (c) The Earthmonk Journal, some rights reserved (CC BY) (4); author not stated, no rights reserved · CC0 (2).

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

Symphyotrichum undulatum Symphyotrichum undulatum Wavy-leaf aster Photo: CC BY, Heather MazzaccaroOrobanche uniflora Orobanche uniflora Orobanchaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, JomegatViola subsinuata Viola subsinuata Wood violet Photo: CC BY, Ryan SorrellsSolidago arguta Solidago arguta Atlantic goldenrod Photo: CC BY, Rajan RaoScirpus polyphyllus Scirpus polyphyllus Leafy bulrush Photo: CC BY, Summit Metro ParksCarex laxiflora Carex laxiflora Loose-flowered sedge Photo: CC BY, Nathan Aaron

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 Aster tenuifolius var. bellidifolius; Erigeron alpinus var. alpinus; Erigeron alpinus var. unifloroides; Erigeron bellidifolius; Erigeron bellidifolius var. bellidifolius and 11 more. (GBIF Backbone)

Under another author Erigeron acris C.B.Clarke, 1876 is an older name of this species, not Erigeron acris, a species of the reference; Erigeron uniflorus Sm. is an older name of this species, not Erigeron uniflorus, a species of the reference. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipediaiNaturalist

The record

Family
Asteraceae
Described by
Michx.
Native to
Ontario, Québec, Illinois +33
Wild records
1820 in range · 475 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; 37 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (32 at a botanic garden or arboretum, 5 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 40.50_-75.625, lapse-corrected +53 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22found by its label; its IPNI identifier 204381-1 is Kew's for Erigeron pulchellus Michx.
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 85 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

Opening your plants…