Definition of "fleabane"

Any of various species of flowering plants in certain genera in family Asteraceae, that typically repel insects:

1. mostly in two tribes of subfamily Asteroideae  quotations

   Quotations

   • On a sunny September morning, with the trees still green, but the asters and fleabanes already taking over in ditch and dalk, Van set out for Ladoga, N.A.

     1969, Vladimir Nabokov, Ada or Ardor, Penguin, published 2011, page 120

   1. in tribe Astereae

      1. Conyza spp. (butterweeds or horseweed)  examples

      2. Erigeron spp., especially Erigeron acre (blue fleabane)  examples

   2. in tribe Inuleae

      1. Inula spp. (yellowheads)  examples

      2. Pluchea spp. (camphorweeds)  examples

      3. Pulicaria spp. (false fleabane), especially common fleabane (Pulicaria dysenterica subsp. dysenterica, formerly Inula dysenterica)  examples

2. Also, in subfamily Cichorioideae, Vernonia spp. (ironweeds).  examples