--- title: Fleabane canonical: https://fernland.com.au/problem-solver/fleabane/ dateModified: 2026-08-07 09:54:21 summary: "Identify fleabane (Conyza spp.) in nursery areas, turf margins and landscape beds. Manage plants early, reduce bare ground, remove plants before seed set and use registered herbicide options appropriately." type: article keywords: [Fleabane, Conyza spp.] --- # Fleabane > Identify fleabane (Conyza spp.) in nursery areas, turf margins and landscape beds. Manage plants early, reduce bare ground, remove plants before seed set and use registered herbicide options appropriately. *Conyza spp.* Fleabane is an erect, herbaceous annual or short-lived perennial that grows from a basal rosette into a single, tough, fibrous stem reaching 0.5 to 1.5 metres in height, sometimes taller under good conditions. The leaves are narrow, lance-shaped to linear, hairy, and alternate up the stem, with the lower leaves often forming a dense rosette before the plant bolts to flower. Numerous small, cream to pale yellow-green flower heads cluster at the top of branching stems, each maturing into a mass of tiny seeds attached to fine white bristles (a pappus) that allow wind dispersal over long distances. The root system is a shallow but tough taproot, which combined with the fibrous stem makes mature plants difficult to remove by hand or slash effectively. Several closely related species are grouped under the common name fleabane in Australia, most importantly flaxleaf fleabane (Conyza bonariensis) and tall or Canadian fleabane (Conyza canadensis). Both behave similarly as weeds and are managed the same way in practice. Fleabane is widespread across southern and eastern Australia, particularly in cropping, pasture, turf and amenity horticulture settings. It germinates mainly in autumn and spring but can emerge year-round in warmer regions or under irrigation, with seedlings establishing quickly in disturbed soil, thin turf, garden beds, nursery gravel and along fence lines, edges and pathways. A single plant can produce many thousands of seeds, which remain viable for a short period but germinate readily, giving fleabane a strong capacity for rapid spread within and between properties. It is a well-documented case of herbicide resistance, particularly to glyphosate, so management increasingly relies on early intervention at the seedling to small-rosette stage, non-chemical controls such as maintaining dense competitive turf or mulch cover, physical removal before flowering, and integrating a mode-of-action rotation into any herbicide programme rather than relying on repeat applications of a single active. ## How to identify - **Rosette stage:** low clusters of narrow, hairy, greyish-green leaves close to the ground, easily overlooked in thin turf or garden beds until they bolt. - **Bolted plants:** a single upright, wiry stem with narrow alternate leaves, branching near the top into many small cream-yellow flower heads. - **Seed set:** flower heads turn to fluffy white seed heads similar in appearance to small dandelion seed clusters, which shed large numbers of wind-borne seeds. - **Competition damage:** in turf, dense fleabane stands can crowd out desirable grass, particularly in thin, stressed or recently disturbed areas; in nursery and garden situations it competes for water and nutrients in pots and beds. - **Confirming identification:** check for the fibrous, tough taproot and rigid, hairy stem that resists easy hand-pulling once mature — a key difference from softer-stemmed annual weeds. Crush a leaf; fleabane lacks the strong odour of some lookalikes. - **Common lookalikes:** young fleabane rosettes can be confused with cobbler's pegs (Bidens pilosa) seedlings, but cobbler's pegs have more deeply toothed, paired leaves and later produce black, barbed seeds rather than fluffy wind-dispersed seed heads. Mature fleabane can also resemble some annual daisy weeds, but its narrow, numerous flower heads on a single branching stem are distinctive. ## Registered products we stock - [Freehand Pre-emergent Herbicide](https://fernland.com.au/freehand-pre-emergent-herbicide/) — BASF - [Dicamba M Selective Herbicide](https://fernland.com.au/dicamba-m-selective-herbicide/) — PCT SureFire - [DISMISS Granular Ornamental Pre-emergent Herbicide](https://fernland.com.au/dismiss-granular-ornamental-pre-emergent-herbicide/) — Macspred - [Buffalo - Bindii & Broadleaf Weedkiller Herbicide](https://fernland.com.au/buffalo-bindii-broadleaf-herbicide/) — PCT SureFire - [Crab Grass & Clover Killer Selective Weedkiller](https://fernland.com.au/crab-grass-clover-killer-selective-weedkiller/) — David Grays - [Amicide Advance 700 Selective Herbicide](https://fernland.com.au/amicide-advance-700-selective-herbicide/) — Nufarm - [Casper Turf Herbicide](https://fernland.com.au/casper-turf-herbicide/) — Syngenta - [Fairway Selective Herbicide](https://fernland.com.au/fairway-selective-herbicide/) — Adama - [Stature 3-Way Broadleaf Turf Herbicide](https://fernland.com.au/stature-3-way-broadleaf-turf-herbicide/) — Colin Campbell Chemicals - [Crucial Herbicide](https://fernland.com.au/crucial-herbicide/) — Nufarm - [Weedmaster DST Herbicide](https://fernland.com.au/weedmaster-dst-herbicide/) — Nufarm - [Arsenal Super Herbicide](https://fernland.com.au/arsenal-super-herbicide/) — BASF ## Image credits - [Photo: Josep Gesti via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Erigeron_bonariensis,_Santa_Coloma_de_Farners.jpg) - [Photo: Juan Carlos Fonseca Mata via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Erigeron_bonariensis_(Family%CB%90_Asteraceae)_-_weed.jpg) - [Photo: Meteorquake via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0)](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Erigeron_bonariensis_from_Antalya_by_D_Merrick_04.jpg)