Burke: Symphyotrichum ericoides vs. Symphyotrichum foliaceum

	Symphyotrichum ericoides	Symphyotrichum foliaceum
	heath-leaved aster, tufted white prairie aster	alpine leafybract aster, Canby's leafybract aster, Cusick's American aster, Cusick's aster, Henderson's aster, Kootenai aster, leafy aster, leafy-bracted aster, Parry's aster
Habit	Fibrous-rooted perennial from a crown or rhizomes, the stems clustered, 3-20 dm. tall; herbage rough with usually spreading hairs.	Fibrous-rooted perennial from a creeping rhizome, highly variable in size, the herbage glabrous or soft-pubescent.
Leaves	Leaves opposite, numerous, firm, linear, often spine-tipped, up to 7 cm. long and 5 mm. wide.	Leaves entire, the lower oblanceolate to obovate, petiolate, often deciduous; other leaves lanceolate to ovate, sessile, 5-12 cm. long and 1-4 cm. wide, 3.5-7 times as long as wide.
Flowers	Heads numerous, small, the disk only 4-8 mm. wide, somewhat one-sided on the ascending branches; involucre 4-6 mm. high, its bracts imbricate, the outer with green tips, obtuse or rounded, spine-tipped; rays white, 15-25, 3-8 mm. long.	Heads 1-many in a flat-topped inflorescence; involucre bracts leafy, imbricate, white-margined at the base; disk flowers numerous, yellow; rays 15-60, 1-2 cm. long, pistillate, rose-purple to blue or violet; pappus of numerous capillary bristles, white or tawny.
Fruits	Achene	Fruit an achene.

	Symphyotrichum ericoides	Symphyotrichum foliaceum
Flowering time	July-September	July-September
Habitat	Open, wet or dry places in the valleys and plains; tolerant of alkali.	Open, usually moist areas, low to high elevations in the mountains.
Distribution	Occurring chiefly east of the Cascades crest in Washington; southern British Columbia to Oregon, east to the Rocky Mountains, and further east across Canada and most of North America to the Atlantic Coast. [WildflowerSearch map] [BONAP county map]	Occurring on both sides of the Cascades crest in Washington; British Columbia to California, east to the Rocky Mountains. [WildflowerSearch map] [BONAP county map]
Origin	Native	Native
Conservation status	Not of concern	Not of concern
Sibling taxa	S. ×amethystinum, S. ascendens, S. boreale, S. bracteolatum, S. campestre, S. chilense, S. ciliatum, S. ×columbianum, S. foliaceum, S. frondosum, S. hallii, S. jessicae, S. laeve, S. lanceolatum, S. novae-angliae, S. pilosum, S. spathulatum, S. subspicatum	S. ×amethystinum, S. ascendens, S. boreale, S. bracteolatum, S. campestre, S. chilense, S. ciliatum, S. ×columbianum, S. ericoides, S. frondosum, S. hallii, S. jessicae, S. laeve, S. lanceolatum, S. novae-angliae, S. pilosum, S. spathulatum, S. subspicatum
Subordinate taxa	S. ericoides var. pansum
Web links	Local floras: BC, OR, WA Local Web sites: Flora NW, PNW Herbaria WildflowerSearch iNaturalist (observations) USDA Plants Database LBJ Wildflower Center SEINet Plants of the World Online Encyclopedia of Life Wikipedia Google Image Search	Local floras: BC, CA, OR, WA Local Web sites: CalFlora, CalPhotos, Flora NW, PNW Herbaria WildflowerSearch iNaturalist (observations) USDA Plants Database LBJ Wildflower Center SEINet Plants of the World Online Encyclopedia of Life Wikipedia Google Image Search

Symphyotrichum foliaceum

heath-leaved aster, tufted white prairie aster

alpine leafybract aster, Canby's leafybract aster, Cusick's American aster, Cusick's aster, Henderson's aster, Kootenai aster, leafy aster, leafy-bracted aster, Parry's aster

Habit

Fibrous-rooted perennial from a crown or rhizomes, the stems clustered, 3-20 dm. tall; herbage rough with usually spreading hairs.

Fibrous-rooted perennial from a creeping rhizome, highly variable in size, the herbage glabrous or soft-pubescent.

Leaves

Leaves opposite, numerous, firm, linear, often spine-tipped, up to 7 cm. long and 5 mm. wide.

Leaves entire, the lower oblanceolate to obovate, petiolate, often deciduous; other leaves lanceolate to ovate, sessile, 5-12 cm. long and 1-4 cm. wide, 3.5-7 times as long as wide.

Flowers

Heads numerous, small, the disk only 4-8 mm. wide, somewhat one-sided on the ascending branches;

involucre 4-6 mm. high, its bracts imbricate, the outer with green tips, obtuse or rounded, spine-tipped;

rays white, 15-25, 3-8 mm. long.

Heads 1-many in a flat-topped inflorescence;

involucre bracts leafy, imbricate, white-margined at the base;

disk flowers numerous, yellow;

rays 15-60, 1-2 cm. long, pistillate, rose-purple to blue or violet;

pappus of numerous capillary bristles, white or tawny.

Fruits

Achene

Fruit an achene.

Symphyotrichum foliaceum

Flowering time

July-September

Habitat

Open, wet or dry places in the valleys and plains; tolerant of alkali.

Open, usually moist areas, low to high elevations in the mountains.

Distribution

Occurring chiefly east of the Cascades crest in Washington; southern British Columbia to Oregon, east to the Rocky Mountains, and further east across Canada and most of North America to the Atlantic Coast.

[WildflowerSearch map]

[BONAP county map]