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hairy aster

western aster, western mountain aster

Habit Fibrous-rooted perennial from a creeping rhizome, the stems 2-10 dm. tall.
Leaves

Leaves glabrous and entire, the lower ones oblanceolate and petiolate, the others narrower and sessile, 3-15 cm. long and 3-10 mm. wide.

Flowers

Heads 1-many in a flat-topped inflorescence;

involucre 5-7 mm. high, its bracts usually pointed, narrow, linear or linear-oblong, green to the base and minutely purple-tipped;

disk flowers numerous, yellow;

rays 20-50, blue or violet, 6-15 mm. long;

pappus of numerous capillary bristles.

Fruits

Achenes hairy.

Symphyotrichum pilosum

Symphyotrichum spathulatum

Flowering time August-October July-September
Habitat River cobbles, gravel, disturbed ground, and railroads. Meadows and forest openings, from middle elevations to the subalpine.
Distribution
Occurring in scattered locations east of the Cascades crest in Washington; southwestern British Columbia to Washington, otherwise native from the U.S. Great Plains east to the Atlantic Coast.
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Occurring chiefly east of the Cascades crest in Washington; British Columbia to California, east to the Rocky Mountains.
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Origin Introduced from central and eastern North America 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. foliaceum, S. frondosum, S. hallii, S. jessicae, S. laeve, S. lanceolatum, S. novae-angliae, S. spathulatum, S. subspicatum
S. ×amethystinum, S. ascendens, S. boreale, S. bracteolatum, S. campestre, S. chilense, S. ciliatum, S. ×columbianum, S. ericoides, S. foliaceum, S. frondosum, S. hallii, S. jessicae, S. laeve, S. lanceolatum, S. novae-angliae, S. pilosum, S. subspicatum
Subordinate taxa
S. pilosum var. pilosum
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