Swamp Boreal Daisy

Biennials or short-lived perennials, (6–)10–40(–50) cm; fibrous-rooted, caudices simple or branched, or rhizomes. Stems erect, sparsely to moderately strigose or loosely strigoso-villous or glabrate, often minutely glandular near heads. Leaves basal (persistent) and cauline; basal blades oblanceolate to spatulate, 20–80 × 2–6 mm, cauline gradually reduced distally, margins usually entire, rarely dentate, glabrous or sparsely villoso-hirsute, distal sometimes also glandular. Heads 1–5(–8) in corymbiform arrays (on straight, spreading peduncles). Involucres 5–11 × 8–12 mm. Phyllaries in 2–3 series (inner apices attenuate to caudate), sparsely hirsute to villoso-hirsute, eglandular or sparsely minutely glandular only at tips. Ray (pistillate) florets in 2 series: outer 45–60, corollas white to pink, 5–7 mm, laminae (filiform) erect, not coiling or reflexing; inner far fewer than outer, elaminate. Disc corollas 4.2–6.2 mm. Cypselae 1.6–1.8 mm, 2-nerved, faces sparsely strigose; pappi: outer of setae, inner of 24–35 (accrescent) bristles. 2n = 36.

Erigeron alpinus Linnaeus var. elatus Hooker, Fl. Bor.-Amer. 2: 18. 1834; E. acris Linnaeus var. arcuans Fernald; E. acris var. elatus (Hooker) Cronquist; E. elatus var. oligocephalus (Fernald & Wiegand) Fernald; Trimorpha elata (Hooker) G. L. Nesom

Erigeron elatus is a North American species of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae known by the common names swamp fleabane and swamp boreal-daisy.

Erigeron elatus is widespread across most of Canada, found in every province and territory except the 3 Maritime Provinces. It has also been found in the states of Washington and Alaska in the United States. It grows in tundra, bogs, floodplains, and the edges of ponds.

Erigeron elatus is a biennial or perennial herb up to 50 centimeters (20 inches) in height. It produces 1-8 flower heads per stem, each head as many as 120 pink or white ray florets surrounding numerous yellow disc florets.