Take pride, Philadelphia, this is a special time of year!
Am I talking about playoffs for the Flyers? Nope - nothing to be proud of there.
How about the Seventy-Sixers? Nope again, even if Joel Emid can stay healthy.
What about the Phillies, off to a great start? If that’s your thing, sure, but I’m psyched because Philadelphia fleabane (Erigeron philadelphicus) is blooming.
It really is a lovely little daisy, with a yellow disk surrounded by what look like white or pale pink petals*. It apparently evolved to grow in conditions similar to what it finds in cities, since it grows out of weedy patches of soil and even sidewalk cracks everywhere I look. It has a life history similar to a lot of the other asters and daisies: it parachutes in as a tiny seed, establishes a clump of leaves, and expands out from there by runners. It blooms from mid-April into May, after which other fleabanes like the annual fleabane take over.
But why should I take pride in a plant simply because it is named for my city? That naming doesn’t even have a lot to do with the city of Philadelphia itself. Back in the mid-1700s Peter Kalm, one of Linneus’ disciples, explored the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast of the colonies, basing himself out of Philadelphia (this is why PA’s state flower, the mountain laurel, is named Kalmia latifolia. Incidentally his books about his travels here are very much worth reading as a snapshot of a time in colonization when Swedish settlers and indigenous groups were still a major presence in the region, as well as for a reminder of past biota). Like so many wide-ranging organisms, the Philadelphia fleabane got its name because that’s where a European naturalist happened to mail it home from, much like the box turtle (Terrapene carolina) or the white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus). There is nothing particularly Philadelphia about the fleabane.
But it’s not like sports fans have a much deeper stake in the teams they identify with. How many members of the Phillies’ starting lineup are actually from Philadelphia? Ice hockey can’t even be played outdoors in Philadelphia; we’re too far south. What material difference to Philadelphians does it make that the Eagles play eight or nine games each year in a stadium here? And, as a former sports fan I can point out that almost every season ends in disappointment. You’re safer skipping the games and spending some quality time outside.
Philadelphia fleabane doesn’t disappoint. It wins every year. Of course it’s a free country; you can spend your free time vegging out in front of the TV watching other people do exciting things. I’ll be outside rooting for the hometown flowers.
*As a member of the daisy family, like sunflowers, asters, dandelions, chrysanthemums, and a jillion other plants, what looks like a simple flower is actually a bunch of mini flowers, or “florets.” The ones in the disk are called disk florets, and the ones around the edge are ray florets. Some flowers like dandelions are just made of ray florets, while others like groundsel are just disk florets.