Ben here with the Wednesday edition of #BenInNature presented by our friends at Carter Bank & ...

Ben here with the Wednesday edition of #BenInNature presented by our friends at Carter Bank & ...

Ben here with the Wednesday edition of #BenInNature presented by our friends at Carter Bank & Trust!

This is Erigeron philadelphicus, also called common fleabane or Philadelphia fleabane, and it's a pretty common member of the daisy family. So many of the plants we've looked at in these nature posts turn out to be invasive species here in the United States, but not this one! Common fleabane is native to the U.S.! Of course, it's an introduced species in Europe and Asia and it's considered an invasive species there, so you win some, you lose some.

These daisies tend to feature arrays composed of multiple flower heads; this one has five, but some have been found with as many as 35 heads! Each head can contain 100-400 pink or white "ray florets" (basically petals). In the case of common fleabane, these ray florets are skinnier and more thread-like than in related species.

These flowers first start blooming around April, and can often be found in fields and roadsides. At night, the flower heads close up, and they'll sometimes stay closed on a cloudy day.

I'm going to be taking a little vacation over the next few days, but I'll be back on Monday with more new nature posts!

ABOUT #BenInNature
Social distancing can be difficult, but it presents a great opportunity to become reacquainted with nature. In this series of posts, Administrator of Science Ben Williams ventures outdoors to record a snapshot of the unique sights that can be found in the natural world. New updates are posted Monday - Friday, with previous posts highlighted on the weekends. This series of posts is made possible thanks to the support of VMNH Corporate Partner Carter Bank & Trust (www.cbtcares.com).

NATURE PHOTO IDENTIFICATIONS
If you discover something in nature that you would like help identifying, be sure to message us right here on Facebook with a picture (please include location and date of picture) and we'll have our experts help you identify it!

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