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coyote-thistle aster, thistleleaf aster

southern swamp aster

Habit Plants 30–70 cm; in scattered individuals or small clumps, eglandular; rhizomes short, stout, or strong, woody caudices (roots fleshy). Plants 20–80 cm; in clumps and clones, eglandular; rhizomes creeping, herbaceous and thin, becoming thick and woody, scaly.
Stems

1–3+, erect, coarse, villous.

1–10+, erect, often reddish, simple, straight (brittle), proximally glabrous, glabrescent, or sparsely strigillose, distally strigillose or ± villoso-hirsute (at least in arrays).

Leaves

strongly basal and cauline, coriaceous, margins indurate, entire to remotely spinose-serrate, remotely and obscurely scabridulous, spines indurate-margined or wholly indurate, finely parallel-veined with evident midnerves, apices acute, revolute, indurate, abaxial faces glabrous;

basal and proximal cauline persistent (bases ± marcescent when leaves deciduous), petioles scarcely distinct, blades linear (grasslike), 70–350 × 3–8 mm, adaxial faces glabrous;

cauline sessile, blades linear to lance-linear, 15–130 × 1.5–7 mm, progressively reduced and more spinose distally, adaxial faces progressively more villous distally.

basal and cauline, firm, only midnerves evident, margins indurate, entire or sometimes remotely spinulose-serrate, scabrous, spines indurate, ± pronounced, apices mucronate or indurate, abaxial faces glabrous or scabrous, adaxial sparsely hirtellous, distal often more hairy;

basal and proximalmost cauline withering by flowering, petioles (often marcescent, to 20 mm), bases sheathing, blades elliptic to lanceolate (basal) or linear-lanceolate, ± arcuate (proximal), 15–103 × 5–9 mm, bases cuneate, apices obtuse (basal) to acute;

cauline progressively sessile (petioles more winged) and reduced, blades lanceolate or linear-lanceolate to linear, ± arcuate, 18–132+ × 2–6 mm, margins sometimes revolute, apices acute.

Peduncles

± densely villous, sometimes sparsely stipitate-glandular distally;

bracts 0–7, appressed, lanceolate, bases ± indurate, margins spinose, adaxial faces villous.

ascending, usually mostly 1–10+ cm (seldom not elongating, sometimes those of young heads appearing short or absent), thin, hirtello-puberulent to villoso-hirsute;

bracts 2–5, often 1–2 subtending heads, sometimes phyllary-like (bases pale, indurate).

Involucres

campanulo-hemispheric, 9–12 mm, slightly shorter than pappi.

campanulate, 9–11 mm, much shorter than pappi.

Ray florets

25–60;

corollas white or pinkish, coiling, 10–20 × 1–2.1 mm.

15–35;

corollas deep lavender to purple, (10–)15–20 × 1–2.3 mm.

Disc florets

115–260;

corollas yellow, 5.5–7 mm, slightly ampliate, tubes shorter than tubular throats, lobes 0.75–1 mm, erect, lanceolate.

25–60;

corollas yellow, 5.5–7 mm, slightly ampliate, tubes much shorter than cylindro-funnelform throats, lobes spreading, lanceolate-acuminate, 0.75–1.1 mm.

Phyllaries

70–140 in 4–5 series, greenish, densely thick-nerved, lanceolate to linear (innermost), unequal, coriaceous, bases indurate and rounded (outer), margins entire, indurate or ± scarious, erose (inner), sometimes sparsely villoso-ciliate, ± densely stipitate-glandular, apices squarrose, green and often purplish-tinged, foliaceous, long-acuminate, adaxial faces villosulous, rarely also sparsely stipitate-glandular.

40–65+ in 4–5 series, lanceolate or oblong (outer) to linear-oblanceolate or linear (inner), unequal, membranous, bases indurate, rounded (particularly outer), green zones well defined, slightly expanded in distal 1/3–2/3 (foliaceous), reaching margins (outer wholly foliaceous, outermost are bracts subtending heads) to 1/6 or less and not reaching margins or none (inner), margins sometimes distally purplish (particularly inner), indurate, narrowly scarious, erose proximally to nearly completely so (inner), densely ciliate proximally (scarious part) to distally scabrous (foliaceous part), apices loose and often spreading, sometimes squarrose, obtuse to sometimes acute, mucronate, faces sparsely to densely strigillose.

Heads

1–11+, borne singly or in racemiform arrays, branches ascending to erect, stiff.

(1–)4–10+ in open, corymbiform arrays, seldom borne singly, with ascending branches.

Cypselae

straw-colored, ellipsoid to obovoid, 2–3.5 mm, ribs 11–13 prominent, glabrous;

pappi of (ca. 35) orangish tan (coarse, sometimes clavellate) bristles 7.8–8.2 mm, slightly longer than disc corollas.

stramineous to tawny, cylindric to narrowly obovoid, slightly compressed, 2.3–3.6 mm, ribs 10–16, sparsely strigillose;

pappi of stramineous (firm, sometimes apically clavellate) bristles 5–6.7 mm, ± equaling disc corollas.

2n

= 36.

Eurybia eryngiifolia

Eurybia paludosa

Phenology Flowering late spring–midsummer. Flowering late summer–fall.
Habitat Low pine flatwoods, pine savannas, bogs, often on wet sand, on southern coastal plains Moist savannas, margins of pools and swamps, low pinelands, seldom on sand hills of coastal plains, open hammocks
Elevation 0–100 m (0–300 ft) 0–100 m (0–300 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AL; FL; GA
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
FL; GA; NC; SC
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Eurybia eryngiifolia is known from the Florida panhandle and adjacent areas of southern Georgia and Alabama. The species is of conservation concern in Alabama.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Eurybia paludosa is often confused with E. hemispherica, with which it is closely related. It is present on the Atlantic coastal plain from North Carolina to northeastern Florida. The two species are disjunct geographically and ecologically, even when they occur in the same states. In North Carolina, for instance, E. paludosa is coastal while E. hemispherica is found in the mountains. In northern Florida, the former is found only in Nassau County, while the latter is present only in the western panhandle. Their ranges do not overlap.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Source FNA vol. 20, p. 381. FNA vol. 20, p. 380.
Parent taxa Asteraceae > tribe Astereae > Eurybia Asteraceae > tribe Astereae > Eurybia
Sibling taxa
E. avita, E. chlorolepis, E. compacta, E. conspicua, E. divaricata, E. furcata, E. hemispherica, E. integrifolia, E. jonesiae, E. macrophylla, E. merita, E. mirabilis, E. paludosa, E. radula, E. radulina, E. saxicastelli, E. schreberi, E. sibirica, E. spectabilis, E. spinulosa, E. surculosa, E. ×herveyi
E. avita, E. chlorolepis, E. compacta, E. conspicua, E. divaricata, E. eryngiifolia, E. furcata, E. hemispherica, E. integrifolia, E. jonesiae, E. macrophylla, E. merita, E. mirabilis, E. radula, E. radulina, E. saxicastelli, E. schreberi, E. sibirica, E. spectabilis, E. spinulosa, E. surculosa, E. ×herveyi
Synonyms Aster eryngiifolius, Heleastrum chapmanii, Prionopsis chapmanii Aster paludosus, Heleastrum paludosum
Name authority (Torrey & A. Gray) G. L. Nesom: Phytologia 77: 259. (1995) (Aiton) G. L. Nesom: Phytologia 77: 261. (1995)
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