Burke: Symphyotrichum foliaceum vs. Symphyotrichum ciliatum

	Symphyotrichum foliaceum	Symphyotrichum ciliatum
	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	alkali American aster, rayless alkali aster, rayless annual aster
Habit	Fibrous-rooted perennial from a creeping rhizome, highly variable in size, the herbage glabrous or soft-pubescent.	Simple or much-branched annual from a taproot, the stem 1-7 dm. tall, glabrous.
Leaves	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.	Leaves alternate, linear, 3-12 cm. long and 1-9 mm. wide, entire, the lower soon deciduous, with a few, coarse hairs on the margins.
Flowers	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.	Heads several in a paniculate inflorescence; involucre 5-11 mm. high, its bracts loose, linear, pointed, herbaceous, slightly imbricate; outer pistillate flowers numerous, with tubular-filiform corolla, not ray-like, the style much longer than the corolla; pappus of capillary bristles, soft and copious, longer that the corollas.
Fruits	Fruit an achene.	Achene

	Symphyotrichum foliaceum	Symphyotrichum ciliatum
Flowering time	July-September	August-September
Habitat	Open, usually moist areas, low to high elevations in the mountains.	Moist to dry open forest and meadows.
Distribution	Occurring on both sides of the Cascades crest in Washington; British Columbia to California, east to the Rocky Mountains. [WildflowerSearch map] [BONAP county map]	Occurring east of the Cascades crest in northern Washington; British Columbia to northern Washington, east across Canada and the northern U.S. to the Atlantic Coast. [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. ericoides, 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. ×columbianum, S. ericoides, S. foliaceum, S. frondosum, S. hallii, S. jessicae, S. laeve, S. lanceolatum, S. novae-angliae, S. pilosum, S. spathulatum, S. subspicatum
Web links	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	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

Symphyotrichum ciliatum

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

alkali American aster, rayless alkali aster, rayless annual aster

Habit

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

Simple or much-branched annual from a taproot, the stem 1-7 dm. tall, glabrous.

Leaves

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.

Leaves alternate, linear, 3-12 cm. long and 1-9 mm. wide, entire, the lower soon deciduous, with a few, coarse hairs on the margins.

Flowers

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.

Heads several in a paniculate inflorescence;

involucre 5-11 mm. high, its bracts loose, linear, pointed, herbaceous, slightly imbricate; outer pistillate flowers numerous, with tubular-filiform corolla, not ray-like, the style much longer than the corolla;

pappus of capillary bristles, soft and copious, longer that the corollas.

Fruits

Fruit an achene.

Achene

Symphyotrichum foliaceum

Symphyotrichum ciliatum

Flowering time

July-September

August-September

Habitat

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

Moist to dry open forest and meadows.

Distribution

Occurring on both sides of the Cascades crest in Washington; British Columbia to California, east to the Rocky Mountains.

[WildflowerSearch map]

[BONAP county map]

Occurring east of the Cascades crest in northern Washington; British Columbia to northern Washington, east across Canada and the northern U.S. to the Atlantic Coast.

[WildflowerSearch map]

[BONAP county map]

Origin

Native

Conservation status

Not of concern

Sibling taxa