The green links below add additional plants to the comparison table. Blue links lead to other Web sites.
enable glossary links

eastern showy aster, purple wood-aster, western showy aster

coyote-thistle aster, thistleleaf aster

Habit Plants 10–90 cm; forming clones and clumps with rosettes, new shoots at end of rhizomes and bases of old stems; rhizomes elongate, scaly, herbaceous becoming woody. Plants 30–70 cm; in scattered individuals or small clumps, eglandular; rhizomes short, stout, or strong, woody caudices (roots fleshy).
Stems

1–3, erect or sometimes ascending, straight, often stout, sometimes glabrous or glabrescent, usually ± sparsely villous proximally and/or distally, proximally eglandular to ± short-stipitate-glandular, distally glandular from 1/2–2/3, short- and long-stipitate-glandular in arrays.

1–3+, erect, coarse, villous.

Leaves

basal and cauline, firm (reticulately veined), margins slightly revolute, indurate, entire or remotely crenulate-serrulate, scabrous, teeth indurate, apices acute (seldom basal obtuse), indurate, faces usually scabrous (especially abaxially), sometimes glabrous;

basal and proximal cauline persistent, petioles (10–90 mm) ± narrowly winged (wings wider and shorter distally), bases sometimes marcescent, blades lanceolate or elliptic to ovate- or obovate-elliptic or spatulate, 10–160 × 3–40 mm (earlier leaves smallest), bases attenuate;

mid widely winged-petiolate to subpetiolate or sessile, blades elliptic-lanceolate, ovate, or ± narrowly obovate to spatulate, oblanceolate, or lanceolate, 13–105 × (2–)5–30 mm, ± gradually reduced distally, bases attenuate or cuneate, sometimes ± clasping or sheathing (proximal);

distal (arrays) sessile, oblong or narrowly ovate to linear-lanceolate or linear, 6–40 × 1–11 mm, usually abruptly reduced, becoming ± glandular.

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

sometimes sparsely villous, densely stipitate-glandular;

bracts (0–)1–3, leaflike or sometimes phyllary-like (bases rounded, membranous, indurate), sometimes immediately subtending heads, densely stipitate-glandular.

± densely villous, sometimes sparsely stipitate-glandular distally;

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

Involucres

campanulate, 7.5–14(–16) mm, ± equaling pappi.

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

Ray florets

15–35;

corollas violet-purple, 12–25 × 1.6–4 mm.

25–60;

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

Disc florets

25–55;

corollas yellow, 5.5–7.6 mm, ± ampliate, tubes shorter than funnelform throats, lobes erect, lanceolate, 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

35–70 in 5–6 series, oblong-lanceolate to sometimes spatulate (outer) to linear-lanceolate or linear (inner), unequal, membranous or sometimes foliaceous (outer), bases indurate, rounded (outer), green zones expanded, ovate to obovate (outer, sometimes foliaceous to base) or diffusely lanceolate or none (inner), margins of membranous parts hyaline or ± purplish (inner), narrowly scarious, villoso-ciliate or long-stipitate-glandular, of foliaceous parts ± indurate, scabrous or short-stipitate-glandular, apices squarrose (outer) to ± appressed (innermost), acute to obtuse, adaxial faces long-stipitate-glandular (foliaceous parts).

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–)3–35+ usually in open, corymbiform arrays, seldom borne singly, branches ascending, stout.

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

Cypselae

brown, fusiform, slightly compressed, 3–4.2 mm, ribs 12–14, faces densely strigillose;

pappi of reddish-tawnish bristles 5.3–7.6 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

= 72.

Eurybia spectabilis

Eurybia eryngiifolia

Phenology Flowering fall. Flowering late spring–midsummer.
Habitat Mostly sandy soils, sometimes dry clay, granite outcrops, dry, oak-pine woods, pine barrens, peat bogs, borders of woods, clearings, fields, roadsides Low pine flatwoods, pine savannas, bogs, often on wet sand, on southern coastal plains
Elevation 0–900 m (0–3000 ft) 0–100 m (0–300 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AL; CT; DE; GA; MA; MD; NC; NJ; NY; PA; RI; SC; VA
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AL; FL; GA
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Eurybia spectabilis is of conservation concern in much of its range, notably in Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland. It is an eastern coastal plains species that reaches its southern limit in Alabama and Georgia.

(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. 378. 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. hemispherica, E. integrifolia, E. jonesiae, E. macrophylla, E. merita, E. mirabilis, E. paludosa, E. radula, E. radulina, E. saxicastelli, E. schreberi, E. sibirica, 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 spectabilis, Aster commixtus, Aster spectabilis var. suffultus, Biotia commixta, E. commixta Aster eryngiifolius, Heleastrum chapmanii, Prionopsis chapmanii
Name authority (Aiton) G. L. Nesom: Phytologia 77: 262. (1995) (Torrey & A. Gray) G. L. Nesom: Phytologia 77: 259. (1995)
Web links