Flora of North America species comparison

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Eucephalus

Eucephalus elegans

aster

elegant aster
Habit Perennials, 10–160 cm (usually cespitose, induments usually of stipitate-glandular and smooth-surfaced, curved or twisted woolly hairs, plants with caudices or short rhizomes, roots fibrous). Perennials 30–70 cm (caudices woody; herbage scabrous).
Stems

ascending or erect, simple, glabrate, puberulent, pilose, cottony, or woolly, eglandular or glandular.

erect, moderately scabrous and/or glandular.
Leaves

cauline; alternate;

sessile (proximal withering by flowering; proximalmost reduced, scalelike);

blades (1-nerved) ovate, elliptic, oblong, lanceolate, or linear (± uniform in size), margins entire, faces glabrate, scabrous, cottony, or woolly, eglandular or stipitate-glandular.

mid and cauline blades linear-oblong or linear-lanceolate, 2–6 cm × 3–10 mm, faces moderately scabrous and ± short-stipitate-glandular.
Peduncles

glandular-puberulent.
Involucres

turbinate-cylindric, turbinate, turbinate-obconic, or campanulate, 10–25 mm diam.

turbinate-cylindric, 6–9 mm.
Receptacles

± flat, pitted, epaleate.

Ray florets

0–21 (usually 5, 8, or 13), pistillate, fertile;

corollas violet-purple, purple, pink, or white.

Disc florets

10–35, bisexual, fertile;

corollas yellow, ± ampliate, tubes shorter than funnelform throats, lobes 5, erect or reflexed, triangular;

style-branch appendages lanceolate.

Phyllaries

20–50 in 3–6 series, ± unequal (± appressed, often reddish or purplish at margins and tips), 1-nerved (keeled), ovate, lance-oblong, lanceolate, linear-oblong, or linear, chartaceous at bases, margins sometimes hyaline, especially proximally;

apices acute to obtuse, green, usually puberulent, tomentose, and/or stipitate-glandular, sometimes glabrous.

in 3–5 series (often purplish at margins), ovate, margins eciliate, apices acute, abaxial faces moderately to densely puberulent and glandular.
Heads

radiate or discoid, usually in open, racemiform, paniculiform, or corymbiform arrays, sometimes borne singly.

3–8(–15) in racemiform to corymbiform arrays.
Cypselae

± obconic, flattened, laterally 1–2-ribbed, sometimes with 1–2 additional nerves on each face, glabrous, pilose, or strigose, eglandular;

pappi persistent, of 30–50 whitish to tawny, barbellate or smooth, apically clavate or more conspicuously barbellate bristles in 2(–3) series (outer usually 1 mm or less, sometimes 0, inner 5–10 mm).

strigose;

pappus bristles in 2 series, barbellate.
Rays

usually 5 or 8, purple.
x

= 9.

2n

= 18.

Eucephalus

Eucephalus elegans
Phenology Flowering Jul–Aug.
Habitat Open meadows, aspen forests, rocky open slopes
Elevation 1100–3200 m [3600–10500 ft]
Distribution
from USDA
North America
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
CO; ID; MT; NV; OR; UT
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Species 10 (10 in the flora).

Eucephalus, a relatively well-marked western North American group, has been treated as a section of Aster or as a distinct genus. Recent molecular evidence places Eucephalus, together with the eastern North American Doellingeria, at the base of the North American clade of Astereae.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Key
1. Ray florets usually 1–4, often 0
→ 2
1. Ray florets commonly 5, 8, or 13+
→ 5
2. Ray florets 0; leaves 5–9 cm, ± glabrous abaxially, glandular adaxially; plants 60–120 cm; open woods, Lane County, Oregon
E. vialis
2. Ray florets usually 1–4; leaves 2–6 cm, hairy; plants 10–100 cm
→ 3
3. Leaves glabrous or nearly so abaxially, moderately to densely hairy adaxially
E. tomentellus
3. Leaves glabrous, eglandular or sparsely glandular on both faces
→ 4
4. Phyllaries subequal
E. breweri
4. Phyllaries strongly unequal
E. glabratus
5. Stems, leaves, and phyllaries glabrous, glaucous; plants 40–160 cm; leaves linear tonarrowly lance-elliptic, 4–10 cm; rays purple
E. glaucescens
5. Stems, leaves, and phyllaries pubescent or glabrate, glandular or not, not glaucous; plants 10–120(–150) cm; leaves elliptic, oblong, lance-ovate, lance-elliptic, lanceolate, linear-oblong or -lanceolate, 1.5–10 cm; rays white, pink, violet, or purple.
→ 6
6. Leaves 5–10 cm, elliptic to lanceolate, glabrous and eglandular, or abaxially ± glandular and/or villous; plants 50–150 cm; rays white to pink
E. engelmannii
6. Leaves 1.5–7 cm, elliptic, elliptic-oblong, oblong, lance-ovate, lance-elliptic, linear-oblong or -lanceolate, glandular or not, scabrous or cottony; plants 10–80 cm; rays white or violet to purple
→ 7
7. Rays white; stems pilose or sparsely to moderately glandular-pubescent
→ 8
7. Rays violet to purple; stems scabrous (to scabrellous) or cottony and/or glandular-pubescent (especially peduncles)
→ 9
8. Phyllaries lance-ovate; Cascade Mountains, Oregon
E. gormanii
8. Phyllaries lance-linear; Olympic Mountains, Washington
E. paucicapitatus
9. Leaves moderately scabrellous (and sometimes glandular) on both faces
E. elegans
9. Leaves sparsely scabrous abaxially, strongly cottony adaxially
E. ledophyllus
Source FNA vol. 20, p. 39. Treatment author: Geraldine A. Allen. FNA vol. 20, p. 40. Treatment author: Geraldine A. Allen.
Parent taxa Asteraceae > tribe Astereae Asteraceae > tribe Astereae > Eucephalus
Sibling taxa
E. breweri, E. engelmannii, E. glabratus, E. glaucescens, E. gormanii, E. ledophyllus, E. paucicapitatus, E. tomentellus, E. vialis
Subordinate taxa
E. breweri, E. elegans, E. engelmannii, E. glabratus, E. glaucescens, E. gormanii, E. ledophyllus, E. paucicapitatus, E. tomentellus, E. vialis
Synonyms Aster section E., Aster subsection E. Aster perelegans, E. perelegans
Name authority Nuttall: Trans. Amer. Philos. Soc., n. s. 7: 298. (1840) Nuttall: Trans. Amer. Philos. Soc., n. s. 7: 298. (1840)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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