Common Fleabane, Pulicaria dysenterica

Common Name: Common Fleabane

Pulicaria dysenterica, known locally as Common Fleabane, is a branched and woolly perennial that is distinctive and showy only when in flower, Common Fleabane grows up to 60 cm in height. The leaves are oblong-lanceolate with wavy margins and green above but greyish below. The showy flower heads measure approximately 15-30 mm across with deep yellow central disc florets and brighter yellow outer ray florets with the heads borne in open clusters.

The leaves are reputed to have insecticidal properties, especially in relation to warding off fleas, hence the common name. Flowering between July and September, it favours the damp conditions to be found in meadows, marshes and ditches. Widespread and common throughout the United Kingdom.