DESERT YELLOW FLEABANE Erigeron linearis (Hook.) Piper Asteraceae – Aster family Corey L. Gucker & Nancy L. Shaw | 2019 ORGANIZATION NOMENCLATURE Erigeron linearis (Hook.) Piper is commonly Names, subtaxa, chromosome number(s), hybridization. referred to as desert yellow fleabane and belongs to the Osteocaulis section, Conyzinae subtribe, and Astereae tribe within the Asteraceae family (Nesom 2008). Range, habitat, plant associations, elevation, soils. NRCS Plant Code. ERLI (USDA NRCS 2017). Subtaxa. There are no desert yellow fleabane subspecies or varieties recognized. Life form, morphology, distinguishing characteristics, reproduction. Synonyms. Erigeron peucephyllus A. Gray, Diplopappus linearis Hooker (Nesom 2006; Welsh et al. 2016; Hitchcock and Cronquist 2018). Growth rate, successional status, disturbance ecology, importance to animals/people. Common Names. Desert yellow fleabane, desert yellow daisy, linear-leaf daisy, line-leaved fleabane, narrow-leaved fleabane, and yellow daisy Current or potential uses in restoration. (Applegate 1938; Taylor 1992; Ogle et al. 2011; Welsh et al. 2016; Hitchcock and Cronquist 2018). Seed sourcing, wildland seed collection, seed cleaning, storage, Chromosome Number. Chromosome numbers testing and marketing standards. are: 2n = 18, 27, 36, 45 (Solbrig et al. 1969; Strother 1972; Nesom 2006; Welsh et al. 2016). Recommendations/guidelines for producing seed. Hybridization. Desert yellow fleabane occasionally hybridizes with scabland fleabane (E. bloomeri) and blue dwarf fleabane (E. elegantulus) (Cronquist 1947; Cronquist Recommendations/guidelines for producing planting stock. et al. 1994). Recommendations/guidelines, wildland restoration successes/ failures. DISTRIBUTION Desert yellow fleabane is sporadically distributed Primary funding sources, chapter reviewers. from southern British Columbia east to central Montana and Wyoming, south to Yosemite National Park in California, and west to central Oregon and Washington (Cronquist 1947; USDA Bibliography. NRCS 2017). Populations are especially common in Washington (Cronquist 1947), disjunct in Montana and Wyoming (USDA NRCS 2017), and restricted to the Pilot and Grouse Creek ranges in Select tools, papers, and manuals cited. Box Elder County, Utah (Welsh et al. 2016). Erigeron linearis (Hook.) Piper. Erigeron linearis (Hook.) Piper. 1 Habitat and Plant Associations. Open rocky plains, foothills in low- to moderate elevation grasslands, shrublands (Fig. 1), and woodlands (Fig. 2) are common desert yellow fleabane habitat (Cronquist 1947; Mee et al. 2003; Nesom 2006; Pavek et al. 2012; Hitchcock and Cronquist 2018). Common vegetation associates include Idaho fescue (Festuca idahoensis), bluebunch wheatgrass (Pseudoroegneria spicata), sagebrush (Artemisia spp.), rubber rabbitbrush (Ericameria nauseosus), bitterbrush (Purshia spp.), and juniper (Juniperus spp.) (Cronquist 1947; Nicholson et al. 1991; Nesom 2006; Welsh et al. 2016). Less common associates include ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) and Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) (Lloyd et al. 1990; Nicholson et al. 1991). Figure 2. Desert yellow fleabane growing adjacent to a juniper community in Oregon. Photo: USDI BLM OR050, SOS. Desert yellow fleabane is a characteristic forb in sagebrush communities. It is frequent in little sagebrush (A. arbuscula)/bluebunch wheatgrass and little sagebrush/Idaho fescue communities in the High Lava Plains Owyhee Uplands and Blue Mountains of Oregon (Franklin and Dyrness 1973). In big sagebrush and little sagebrush communities in southeastern Oregon, desert yellow fleabane was 50 to 75% constant in little sagebrush/ Figure 1. Desert yellow fleabane growing in a sagebrush Idaho fescue communities and 10 to 25% grassland in Idaho. Photo: USDI BLM ID931, Seeds of constant in big sagebrush/bluebunch wheatgrass Success (SOS). communities (Tueller 1962). In eastern Oregon, desert yellow fleabane occurred on one of six Wyoming big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata In British Columbia, desert yellow fleabane is subsp. wyomingensis)/Idaho fescue stands common in the bluebunch wheatgrass very dry evaluated (Doescher et al. 1986). Desert yellow warm subzone between about 2,300-3,300 feet fleabane production was 6 lbs/acre (6.7 kg/ha) in (700-1000 m). Scattered shrubs (prairie sagewort a Wyoming big sagebrush/Idaho fescue stand on [Artemisia frigida], big sagebrush [A. tridentata], silt loam soil from alluvium parent material with 2% and rubber rabbitbrush) are common and organic matter and 7.4 pH. The 15-year average ponderosa pine and Douglas-fir are occasional annual precipitation at this site was 10.3 inches in this zone (Nicholson et al. 1991). Desert yellow (262 mm). The stand occurred on a west aspect fleabane also occurs in interior Douglas-fir forests and had the lowest total herbage production 159 in British Columbia’s Kamloops region (Lloyd et al. lbs/acre (178 kg/ha) of all stands. All other stands 1990). evaluated occurred on north, east, or northeast Desert yellow fleabane often occurs in the western aspects (Doescher et al. 1986). juniper (J. occidentalis)/big sagebrush/bluebunch In California, desert yellow fleabane is largely wheatgrass vegetation type which ranges from transmontane and occurs on rocky slopes from southeastern Washington south to northern sagebrush to subalpine fir (Abies lasiocarpa) California and eastern Idaho (Shiflet 1994) and communities from northern California to Tuolomne is frequent in the northern part of the western County (Munz and Keck 1973). Along an elevation juniper woodland zone of southern Washington gradient from 5,800 to 8,500 feet (1,775-2,575 and Oregon (Dealy 1990). In central Oregon, m) at sites southwest of Bishop, California, desert desert yellow fleabane occurs consistently (40- yellow fleabane cover was 2% at the (2,575 m) site 100% constant), but as a low cover (0.1-0.2%) dominated by big sagebrush. It was absent from component in the western juniper zone (Driscoll the lowest elevation site dominated by Mormon 1964). 2 Erigeron linearis (Hook.) Piper. tea (Ephedra viridis), and the 7,125-foot (2,175 m) site dominated by antelope bitterbrush (Purshia DESCRIPTION tridentata) (Loik and Edar 2003). Elevation. Desert yellow fleabane is most Desert yellow fleabane is a perennial from a stout common at elevations of 2,300 to 6,500 feet multi-branched taproot giving rise to a branched, (700-2,000 m) (Nesom 2006) but it has also been woody caudex (Cronquist et al. 1994; Nesom reported at elevations as high as 10,000 feet 2006). Taproots typically reach a minimum depth (3,000 m) in California (Munz and Keck 1973). In of 12 inches (30 cm) (Mee et al. 2003). Branches of Utah, desert yellow fleabane is restricted to Box the caudex are covered in withered but persistent Elder County, and its elevation ranges from 5,500 leaf bases, and plants exude a watery juice when to 6,900 feet (1,700-2,100 m) or more (Welsh et al. injured (Welsh et al. 2016). Plants are strongly 2016). tufted, often with many erect stems mostly from 2 to 8 inches (5-20 cm) tall (Fig. 4) (Taylor 1992; Soils. Dry rocky or medium to coarse-textured Cronquist et al. 1994), but mat-forming plants soils (Fig. 3) with neutral pH are common in have also been reported (Bates et al. 2007). Stems desert yellow fleabane habitats (Cronquist et al. and leaves are sparsely to densely covered with 1994; Mee et al. 2003; Hitchcock and Cronquist fine, stiff, appressed hairs. Bases of the stems 2018). Desert yellow fleabane is common in are hairless or nearly so, slightly enlarged, and shallow, poorly developed soils with partially straw to purple in color (Cronquist 1947; Munz weathered rock fragments (lithosols) in sagebrush and Keck 1973). Leaves are mostly basal but can ecosystems, especially the western half of the be well distributed along the stems (Cronquist sagebrush steppe and in basaltic areas of the 1947; Nesom 2006). Leaf bases are enlarged and Columbia Basin (Taylor 1992). Desert yellow straw to purple in color (Cronquist 1947; Welsh et fleabane dominated an overgrazed plot with al. 2016). Hairiness of leaves is also similar to that an average soil depth of 2.25 inches (5.7 cm) in of the stems with sparse to dense, stiff, fine, and what was likely an antelope bitterbrush/Douglas’ short hairs all appressed in the same ascending buckwheat (Eriogonum douglasii) potential direction (Munz and Keck 1973; Cronquist et al. vegetation type in the Blue Mountains of Oregon 1994). Leaves are alternate, simple, entire, and (Johnson and Swanson 2005). In central Oregon’s linear from 0.4 to 3.5 inches (1-9 cm) long and 0.5 western juniper zone, desert yellow fleabane had to 3 mm wide (Cronquist 1947; Munz and Keck high constancy but low cover at sites with sandy 1973; Nesom 2006). If present, leaves along the loam to loamy coarse or clay loam soils with pH of stems are reduced (Mee et al. 2003). 6 to 8 (Driscoll 1964). Figure 4. Desert yellow fleabane plant growing in a rocky site in Nevada. Photo: USDI BLM NV020, SOS. Figure 3. Desert yellow fleabane growing in a rocky site in Nevada. Photo: USDI BLM NV020, SOS. Stems generally bear a single yellow flower head but may have up to three. Flowers are usually bright yellow but can be cream to off white in color (Cronquist et al. 1994; Nesom 2006). Flower bases Erigeron linearis (Hook.) Piper. Erigeron linearis (Hook.) Piper. 3 or involucres are 8 to 13 mm wide and 4 to 7 mm about 300 km/kg specific root length) regardless tall with bracts that are green to straw colored of fertilization. Researchers considered it a slow- and villous to finely glandular (Cronquist et al. growing species, with low root foraging precision, 1994; Welsh et al. 2016). Ray florets are typically photosynthetic rates, and low shoot and root present and are pistillate and fertile. Disc florets biomass production (Drenovsky et al. 2008). are bisexual and fertile (Mee et al. 2003; Nesom 2006; Pavek et al. 2012; Welsh et al. 2016). When Disturbance Ecology. In several studies, desert present, ray florets number 15 to 45 and are 4 to yellow fleabane appeared tolerant of early seral 11 mm long and 1.3 to 2.5 mm wide (Cronquist conditions, grazing, and fire, but fire tolerance 1947; Welsh et al.