Conyza canadensis

'Canada Fleabane'

(Syn. Erigeron canadensis)

Asteraceae: an large annual plant 1.5m tall, with sparsely hairy stems. Light soils on waste and cultivated land, also on walls and crack in paths. The flowers are produced in dense inflorescences 1cm in diameter. Each individual flower has a ring of white or pale purple ray florets and a centre of yellow disc florets. The fruit is a cypsela tipped with dirty white down. The leaves are unstalked, slender, 2–10cm long, and up to 1cm across, with a coarsely toothed margin. They grow in an alternate spiral up the stem and the lower one’s wither early. Native throughout most of North America and Central America. It is also widely naturalized in Eurasia and Australia.

USES:

The young leaves and seedlings can be cooked in rice or dried for later use. A nutritional analysis of the leaves is available. The source of an essential oil that is used commercially for flavouring sweets, condiments and soft drinks.

In traditional North American herbal medicine, Canada fleabane was boiled to make steam for sweat lodges, taken as a snuff to stimulate sneezing during a cold and burned to create a smoke that warded off insects. Nowadays it is valued most for its astringency, being used in the treatment of gastro-intestinal problems such as diarrhoea and dysentery. It is said to be a very effective treatment for bleeding haemorrhoids. The whole plant has antirheumatic, astringent, balsamic, diuretic, emmenagogue, styptic, tonic and vermifuge properties.

GROWING INFORMATION:

Surface sow seeds in spring in situ. An autumn sowing in situ might also be worthwhile. Prefers a well-drained light or medium neutral to alkaline soil in a sunny position, though it tolerates most conditions.

A good bee plant!

 
HARVESTED:

 
APPROX. 100+ SEEDS