Eurybia sibirica |
Eurybia saxicastelli |
|
---|---|---|
arctic aster, Siberian aster, Siberian wood-aster |
rockcastle aster |
|
Habit | Plants (1–)5–60 cm; clonal and clumped, eglandular; rhizomes creeping to ascending, scaly, woody with age. | Plants 40–120 cm; in clones; rhizomes elongate, strong. |
Stems | 1–5+, usually ascending, sometimes decumbent, often purplish, sometimes branched basally, flexuous, proximally sparsely villous, distally usually densely villous, sometimes lanate. |
1, erect, strict (slightly flexuous distally), simple, glabrous, distally ± villosulous (arrays). |
Leaves | cauline (dark green abaxially, paler grayish green adaxially), firm, ± markedly veined, margins coarsely and sometimes irregularly serrate, sometimes (distal) serrulate or entire, villoso-ciliate, teeth mucronate, slightly incurved, apices obtuse to acute, mucronate, abaxial faces glabrescent to scabridulous, sparsely villous along veins, adaxial sparsely to ± densely villous or villoso-strigose; proximal winged-petiolate to sessile, petiole bases sheathing, blades spatulate, obovate to oblanceolate, or ovate (smaller than mid), 9–50 × 3–22 mm, bases attenuate to tapering and (in sessile) subclasping; mid short-petiolate to subpetiolate or sessile, blades lanceolate to lance-ovate, oblong to oblanceolate, or obovate to spatulate, 25–95 × 6–35 mm, gradually reduced distally, bases rounded or subauriculate to widely attenuate or cuneate; distal (arrays) sessile, lanceolate, lance-ovate, or elliptic to oblanceolate, 8–60 × 1–12 mm, rapidly reduced distally. |
cauline; proximal withering by flowering, narrowly winged-petiolate, blades broadly oblanceolate or elliptic to obovate, smaller than mid; mid and distal winged-petiolate (5–30 mm), broadly elliptic to oblanceolate, (70–)90–140 × 40–50(–60) mm, reduced distally, bases cuneate, with 4–5 pairs of marked veins, margins coarsely serrate (teeth 1–4 mm), slightly revolute, scabrous, apices acuminate; abaxial faces glabrescent, adaxial sparsely pilose, mainly on veins. |
Peduncles | villous; bracts 0–3, sometimes immediately subtending heads, lanceolate or spatulate to linear-lanceolate, leaflike or phyllary-like distally (bases indurate, margins purplish), mostly foliaceous, villous. |
sparsely pilose; bracts 0–1, foliaceous, remotely serrulate. |
Involucres | campanulate, 6–9 mm, shorter than pappi. |
campanulate, 7–11 mm, shorter than pappi. |
Ray florets | 12–50; corollas white to pale violet or purple, 7–17.5 × 0.8–1.8 mm. |
10–30; corollas pale white to pale blue, 10–15 × 1.5–2 mm. |
Disc florets | 25–125; corollas yellow becoming purplish, 5–8.1 mm, slightly ampliate, tubes longer than funnelform throats, lobes erect, triangular, 0.5–1.1 mm. |
10–20; corollas yellow turning pinkish, ca. 4.5–5 mm, tubes longer than funnelform throats, lobes spreading, triangular, ca. 1.5 mm. |
Phyllaries | 30–80 in 3–4(–5) series, sometimes wholly purplish, usually ± oblong-lanceolate to oblanceolate, sometimes linear-lanceolate (innermost), subequal or ± unequal, membranous, bases indurate, ± rounded, dark green zones lanceolate or truncate at base, in distal 1/3–4/5+ (outer, often foliaceous, sometimes bractlike and surpassing involucres) to 1/4–2/3 (inner), margins hyaline, often purplish, narrowly scarious, erose, densely villoso-ciliate, apices squarrose, acute, apiculate, faces villous. |
32–36 in 4–5 series, broadly oblong, strongly unequal, scarious, dark green zones wide, from 1/2 distally, margins hyaline, narrow, erose, densely ciliate, apices appressed or often slightly squarrose, obtuse to subacute, faces glabrous, eglandular. |
Heads | 1–50, borne singly or in open corymbiform arrays. |
1–10, borne singly or in corymbiform arrays. |
Cypselae | brown, fusiform, compressed, 2.5–3.7 mm, ribs 7–10 (stramineous), faces strigillose; pappi of dark cinnamon or reddish tan (sometimes apically clavellate) bristles 5.5–7.5 mm, ± equaling disc corollas. |
tan, fusiform, cylindric, 5–6 mm, ribs 7–11, stramineous, faces ± strigose; pappi of pale stramineous (clavate) bristles 5–7 mm, shorter than to ± equaling disc corollas. |
2n | = 18. |
= 54. |
Eurybia sibirica |
Eurybia saxicastelli |
|
Phenology | Flowering summer. | Flowering late summer–fall. |
Habitat | Disturbed, open, gravelly or sandy areas in boreal forest, wet meadows, open aspen and spruce woods, riparian thickets, sandy or gravelly stream flats, stream banks, lakeshores, bluffs, sand dunes, sandy places, subalpine and mountain meadows | Back edge of spring-flooded, summer-dry, sandstone boulder–cobble river bars with shrubby vegetation |
Elevation | 0–2200 m (0–7200 ft) | (600–)1000–1500 m ((2000–)3300–4900 ft) |
Distribution |
AK; ID; MT; AB; BC; NT; NU; YT; n Eurasia
|
KY; TN |
Discussion | Eurybia sibirica is known from the northern Rocky Mountains and the northern Pacific Coast northward, becoming frequent in Alaska, Yukon, and in the boreal forest region of the continental Northwest Territories; it crosses into Siberia to reach Scandinavia (R. Elven 1989). In British Columbia, northern individuals belong to E. sibirica, not E. pygmaea (contra G. W. Douglas et al. 1998–2002, vol. 1), and southern specimens sometimes are E. merita. G. L. Nesom (1994b) recognized three varieties, two of which have been reported from North America (var. sibirica and var. gigantea). At present, however, given the great phenotypic plasticity of this species, it appears preferable not to recognize varieties, pending studies on the validity of these entities. Eurybia sibirica has often been confused at its southern range limit with E. merita, from which it differs by its often more low-cespitose habit (versus more erect habit, but smaller individuals may be similar in this respect), usually more serrate leaves (versus subserrate to nearly entire), and subequal, foliaceous, purplish phyllaries (versus unequal, non-foliaceous, purple-margined). At the southern end of its range, near the Canada–United States border, E. sibirica is usually found at higher elevations than its congener, there at its northern limit. Aster sibiricus forma albinus Lepage is merely a color variant of the species and is not recognized here. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Of conservation concern. Eurybia saxicastelli is known only from the Rockcastle River of Kentucky (J. J. N. Campbell and M. E. Medley 1989) and Tennessee. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 20, p. 370. | FNA vol. 20, p. 372. |
Parent taxa | Asteraceae > tribe Astereae > Eurybia | Asteraceae > tribe Astereae > Eurybia |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Aster sibiricus, Aster beringensis, Aster giganteus, Aster montanus, Aster montanus var. giganteus, Aster richardsonii, Aster richardsonii var. giganteus, Aster sibiricus subsp. richardsonii, Aster sibiricus var. giganteus, E. sibirica var. gigantea | Aster saxicastelli |
Name authority | (Linnaeus) G. L. Nesom: Phytologia 77: 261. (1995) | (J. J. N. Campbell & Medley) G. L. Nesom: Phytologia 77: 261. (1995) |
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