American Burnweed



American Burnweed
Erechtites hieraciifolia

This genus is easy to remember, just think "Eric's Teeties" (Seriously, I found this on the internet). Unfortunately, some folks put this plant in the Senecio genus, which is rather boring.

The name of Burnweed comes from the fact that it quickly colonizes areas that were burned. I've not seen it in burned area. The location of these pictures is in a wet area that was lawn and then let go. It was quite a number of years before I saw any, but then last year I saw some of the plants and this year there were quite a bunch of them.

This plant is edible although there is a high variability of opinions on how good it tastes. I'll have to try it next year if it comes up again.



This is a showy as this flower gets!