In our yard, we have a policy: don’t mow it if it flowers. So, this spring, our yard is wild with fleabane, and our backyard is spattered with the white hairy daisy-like flower of this plant. Additionally, since we’ve been growing it out, we’ve had many more bees – and we’ve also noticed that some of our most common basement-dwelling pests like centipedes and flies have stopped coming indoors. Curious, huh?
Maybe Fleabane really does repel fleas and creepy crawlies.
About Fleabane (Asteraceae Erigeron)
Folk Names: Daisy Fleabane, Erigeron
Fleabane is in the family asteraceae, which means it’s related to daisies and sunflowers. Like sunflowers, this North American native wildflower is also edible!
However, fleabane didn’t get its name from its nutritious, spinach-like leaves.
Instead, this plant was traditionally kept in Appalachian homes to repel fleas. One would hang the flowers — stems, leaves, and all — above doorways or make sachets to put in wardrobes and beds to repel fleas and flies. However, there’s no proof this actually works — chock it up to superstition.
That said, I do have some hanging in my room right now since I have a carpet beetle problem. It may be helping – and it may not.
Anyways, here’s a fun fact: the name erigeron is a greek name meaning “early to rise old man” since this flower has white, hairy petals and is one of the first spring flowers to bloom.
In terms of edibility, the leaves are always edible, but some fleabane types have toxic flowers. Because I’m a cautious person, I’ll never eat the flowers just in case.
Before North American colonization, fleabane leaves and roots were used to make poultices and smoke inhalants for treating headaches and colds. Additionally, the USDA states that:
“The Cherokee and Houma tribes boiled the roots to make a drink for ‘menstruation troubles’ and to induce miscarriages (to treat ‘suppressed menstruation’). It was also used to treat hemorrhages and for spitting of blood. The Catawba used a drink from the plant to treat heart trouble.”
Because of the associations between fleabane in miscarriages, please be careful with this anticoagulant blood thinning forageable. While it, in my experience, eases cramps, if there’s any chance you are pregnant, please never eat this wildflower.
Topically, this flower, when combined with cleavers, can be an all-natural remedy for poison ivy! Keep reading for my recipe.
How To Identify and Harvest Fleabane
Fleabane is not an endangered or threatened plant, and it will crop up in full force on lawns, near forest clearings, and anywhere it can get its roots to hold. So, you don’t need to be too careful about over-harvesting this flower.
Fleabane blooms between April and July, growing mid-height stems that can reach 3ft or taller. These stems have small, slightly prickly hairs on them. These prickly hairs can cause contact dermatitis on people with sensitive skin, so be cautious when touching them.
The flowers of fleabane are very easy to recognize. They have a yellow center and hairy or fringe-like petals that are white near the flower’s center. They become pinkish or violet as the petal tapers out.
The leaves are alternating, which is an important detail to notice when harvesting fleabane. Fleabane lookalikes do not have alternating leaves.
How To Prepare and Use Fleabane
Today, I’ll teach you how to eat the leaves of fleabane and how to make a poison-ivy-treating salve from it.
How To Eat Fleabane Leaves
It is critical to cook fleabane leaves when eating them, as the hairs on the leaves can be abrasive, unpleasant, and uncomfortable going down.
Additionally, you should try to eat the younger, heart-shaped leaves of this plant rather than the larger ones because they taste better, have less hairs, and have less of that compound that causes miscarriages in pregnant women.
So, to eat them, I recommend boiling or blanching them in water to make something similar to collard greens – they taste very similar.
Fleabane Poison Ivy Salve
The combo of cleavers and fleabane reduces inflammation and increases blood flow to sores, which makes them perfect for reducing the effects of poison ivy.
To make a simple salve:
- Crush 1 cup cleavers (another great forageable) and ½ cup of young, dried fleabane leaves.
- Heat ¼ cup coconut oil in a saucepan until it is thoroughly melted
- Add 5 tablespoons of beeswax to the coconut oil and allow it to melt over low heat.
- Place the dried cleavers and fleabane leaves in a tea bag or coffee filter and close the top with staples or a bit of twine.
- Steep the herbs in the oils over low heat for at least 1 hour.
- Pour the mixture into a salable container, straining it first if any plant matter remains in there.
- Optionally, add a few drops of clove oil, which is a natural anesthetic like lidocaine, and will also increase the shelf life of the salve.
- Refrigerate and seal the container once it’s solid.
This salve will last for around 1 year.
