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

Apalachicola 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 20–70 cm; solitary or clumped, eglandular; rhizomes short and stout or elongate and wiry, or caudices.
Stems

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

1(–3+), erect, simple, ± villous to glabrescent.

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, linear, firm, ± fleshy, margins indurate, ± revolute, entire to spinose-serrate, smooth to remotely scabridulous or ciliate, spines indurate, finely parallel-veined with evident midribs, apices acute, revolute-indurate, faces glabrescent (minute hairs bulbous at base, threadlike distally);

basal and proximal cauline persistent, sessile or petiolate (narrowing between bases and blades), blades lance-linear to linear, 100–300 × (1–)2–5 mm, bases ± marcescent, sheathing, ciliate;

cauline sessile, blades linear to lance-linear, 20–95 × 3–5 mm, progressively reduced distally, bases rounded- to auriculate-clasping, adaxial faces sparsely villous in distal, the distal subtending heads boat-shaped.

Peduncles

2–80 mm or subsessile;

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

0 (usually) or ascending, 1–17+ mm, sparsely villosulous;

bracts 0–2, ascending, lanceolate, bases not indurate, rounded (boat-shaped), margins ciliate, faces glabrous.

Involucres

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

campanulate, 6.5–9.7 mm, shorter than pappi.

Ray florets

15–30;

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

8–17;

laminae pale purple to purplish white, 10–16(–20) × 1–1.8 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.

18–30;

corollas yellow, 5.5–7.6 mm, barely ampliate, tubes much shorter than tubular-funnelform throats (1–2 mm), lobes erect, lanceolate, 0.65–1 mm.

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.

20–40 in 4–5 series, green, often ± involute in distal 1/2–2/3 (outer) to 1/3 (inner), densely nerved (nerves not thickened), lanceolate, unequal, coriaceous, bases indurate, rounded (outer), margins entire, indurate (outer) or scarious and often purplish (inner), sparsely ciliate, apices acute to acuminate, indurate, apiculate, adaxial faces glabrous or sparsely villosulous.

Heads

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

3–16+ in spiciform to narrow, racemiform arrays.

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.

brown to gray-brown, fusiform, ± compressed, 2–2.5 mm, ribs 7–10, faces ± strigillose;

pappi of burnt-orange (coarse, sometimes apically clavellate) bristles 6–7.5 mm, as long as or slightly longer than disc corollas.

2n

= 18, 36.

Eurybia hemispherica

Eurybia spinulosa

Phenology Flowering late summer–fall. Flowering May–Jul.
Habitat Dry to mesic, less commonly in moist, sandy-loamy soils, open habitats, open oak-pine or oak-hickory woods, bottomlands, prairies, pastures, roadsides Moist to dry, acid sandy peats, savannas in long-leaf pinelands, fire-maintained
Elevation 0–800 m (0–2600 ft) 0–50 m (0–200 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AL; AR; FL; GA; KS; KY; LA; MO; MS; OK; TN; TX
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
FL
[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.)

Of conservation concern.

Eurybia spinulosa is known only from the Apalachicola River drainage of the Florida panhandle; it is of conservation concern in Florida and is a facultative wetland indicator. Much of its habitat has now been lost to development (R. Kral 1983, vol. 2). Kral published a map of the species.

(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. eryngiifolia, 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. surculosa, E. ×herveyi
Synonyms Aster hemisphericus, Aster gattingeri, Aster paludosus subsp. hemisphericus, Aster paludosus var. hemisphericus, Aster pedionomus, Aster verutifolius, Heleastrum hemisphaericum Aster spinulosus, Heleastrum spinulosum
Name authority (Alexander) G. L. Nesom: Phytologia 77: 260. (1995) (Chapman) G. L. Nesom: Phytologia 77: 262. (1995)
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