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single-stem bog or southern prairie aster, southern prairie aster

coyote-thistle aster, thistleleaf aster

Habit Plants 20–100 cm; in clones of scattered clumps, eglandular; rhizomes creeping, tangled, scaly, often becoming thickly woody, or thick, woody caudices. Plants 30–70 cm; in scattered individuals or small clumps, eglandular; rhizomes short, stout, or strong, woody caudices (roots fleshy).
Stems

1–4, erect or ascending, often reddish, simple, straight to stict, proximally glabrous, distally ± sparsely strigillose (at least arrays).

1–3+, erect, coarse, villous.

Leaves

basal and cauline, blades with adaxial midvnerves raised (grooved abaxially), sometimes with 1–2 ± parallel pairs of more obscure secondary nerves (veins obscure), lance-ovate or linear-lanceolate to linear, coriaceous, margins usually entire, sometimes remotely spinulose-toothed, often revolute apically, indurate, scabrous, apices acute, acuminate or obtuse, indurate, abaxial faces glabrous or glabrate, adaxial sparsely scabridulous (hairs minuscule, basal “bulb” bearing terminal seta);

basal withering by flowering, petioles marcescent, ± winged;

proximal petiole bases sheathing, blades 50–175 × 3–12 mm, bases attenuate or cuneate;

cauline progressively sessile and reduced distally, 25–125(–150) × 1.5–8 mm, bases clasping to subclasping.

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.

Peduncles

2–80 mm or subsessile;

bracts 0–4, linear-lanceolate, 10–35 × 0.5–2 mm, mucronulate, grading into phyllaries.

± densely villous, sometimes sparsely stipitate-glandular distally;

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

Involucres

hemispheric, 8–12(–15) mm, shorter than pappi.

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

Ray florets

15–30;

corollas usually violet-purple, seldom white, (10–)13–15(–20) × 1.3–3 mm.

25–60;

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

Disc florets

(40–)52–80+;

corollas light yellow turning brown, 5.8–6.6 mm, ± ampliate, tubes (1.7–2.2 mm) shorter than narrowly campanulate throats (3.4–4 mm), lobes erect, lanceolate and cuspidate or acuminate, 0.7–1.2 mm.

115–260;

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

Phyllaries

48–64 in 4–6 series, oblong-lanceolate or lanceolate (outer) to oblong or lanceolate-linear (inner), unequal, coriaceous (outer) to membranous (inner), bases indurate, rounded (outer), green zones slightly expanded, in 1/2–4/5 distal portions (outer), margins indurate, scabrous or scabroso-ciliate, edges and apices purplish in inner, apices ascending or squarrose to strongly reflexed, acute to acuminate, mucronulate, faces glabrous.

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.

Heads

1–35+ in elongate, usually racemiform to spiciform, sometimes ± flat-topped, corymbiform arrays, branches robust, ascending.

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

Cypselae

brown, cylindro-obovoid to fusiform, slightly flattened, 2.6–3.7 mm, ribs 9–16 (stramineous to olive, crowded), faces ± densely strigillose;

pappi of tawny to cinnamom (coarse, rigid, sometimes apically clavellate) bristles 6–7.5 mm, equaling disc corollas.

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.

2n

= 18, 36.

Eurybia hemispherica

Eurybia eryngiifolia

Phenology Flowering late summer–fall. Flowering late spring–midsummer.
Habitat Dry to mesic, less commonly in moist, sandy-loamy soils, open habitats, open oak-pine or oak-hickory woods, bottomlands, prairies, pastures, roadsides Low pine flatwoods, pine savannas, bogs, often on wet sand, on southern coastal plains
Elevation 0–800 m (0–2600 ft) 0–100 m (0–300 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AL; AR; FL; GA; KS; KY; LA; MO; MS; OK; TN; TX
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AL; FL; GA
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Eurybia hemispherica is of conservation concern in Florida, Georgia, and Kentucky. A. Cronquist (1980) stated that this species and E. paludosa are difficult to separate but geographically distinct (see under 21. E. paludosa). The two species are often treated as infraspecific taxa of E. paludosa. Eurybia hemispherica is diploid and tetraploid, while E. paludosa has been reported only as a tetraploid. There is great morphologic variation in E. hemispherica, from slender individuals, reminiscent of E. paludosa, to very robust, distinctive plants. Arrays in E. hemispherica are usually racemiform; well-developed ones may be distally corymbiform and resemble the arrays of E. paludosa, although the proximal part remains somewhat racemiform (i.e., proximal heads borne on short, simple branches, or tufts of leaves are present). Phyllaries in E. hemispherica may be superficially similar to those of E. paludosa, but often the outer phyllaries are similar to peduncular bracts (and in fact may have been recruited from such), being more triangular, coriaceous, and parallel-veined, a feature never encoutered in E. paludosa; such phyllaries strongly resemble those of E. eryngiifolia. Other characters may help distinguish the two species. Eurybia paludosa usually has thin peduncles, hirtello-puberulent to villoso-hirsute peduncles and phyllaries, and ciliate phyllary margins along the indurate bases. In E. hemispherica, the pedicels are thin to usually robust, when present, the phyllaries are glabrous to sparsely strigillose, and the phyllary margins along the indurate bases are scabrous or scabroso-ciliate, not long-ciliate.

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

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.)

Source FNA vol. 20, p. 379. FNA vol. 20, p. 381.
Parent taxa Asteraceae > tribe Astereae > Eurybia Asteraceae > tribe Astereae > Eurybia
Sibling taxa
E. avita, E. chlorolepis, E. compacta, E. conspicua, E. divaricata, E. eryngiifolia, E. furcata, 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. 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
Synonyms Aster hemisphericus, Aster gattingeri, Aster paludosus subsp. hemisphericus, Aster paludosus var. hemisphericus, Aster pedionomus, Aster verutifolius, Heleastrum hemisphaericum Aster eryngiifolius, Heleastrum chapmanii, Prionopsis chapmanii
Name authority (Alexander) G. L. Nesom: Phytologia 77: 260. (1995) (Torrey & A. Gray) G. L. Nesom: Phytologia 77: 259. (1995)
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