Erigeron annum, a. Habit, b. Flower head. c. Disk flower, d. Ray flower, e. Achenes. Drawn by Regina O.Hughes. From Reed 1971.

Although William Turner was the first to use the word fleabane for European plants, there is no way to be sure what he was talking about. He wrote, “Coniza maye be called in englishe Flebayne.” Now the name Conyza is applied to the American plant C. canadense (which see). That plant was introduced into Europe early and was praised by John Parkinson in 1640. At the same time, Parkinson called some plant C. palustris major, the “greater Marsh or water Fleabane.” Not long afterward, Culpeper (1653) mentioned two “Marsh fleabanes”—Erigeron viscosum and Senecio vulgaris.