Purple Fleabane: End of Season

Purple Fleabane (Philadelphia Fleabane...) 

Fleabane 

This small prairie wildflower, with its hundreds of ray (pale purple) and disk (yellow) florets, waved in the wind when I tried to photograph it. Fleabanes flower from June through August, so this sighting in mid-September was an indication of how odd our summer has been. (It was blazing hot in mid-September, too — close to 32 C the day I took this.)

And yes, there are several kinds of Fleabanes. And no, I don't know what this one is. Smooth Fleabane, I'd say by the photographs, but there is the issue of that very hairy, unsmooth background leaf — which perhaps belongs to an entirely different plant. So, perhaps more likely, Philadephia Fleabane...

Prairie Wildflower: Fleabane (Philadelphia Fleabane, Erigeron phildelphicus?)
Location: Qu'Appelle Valley (Crow's Nest Ecology Preserve), Saskatchewan.
Photo Date: September 11, 2011.

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