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scaleleaf aster

Habit Perennials, 30–120 cm, cespitose; with herbaceous or thick, woody, sometimes cormoid caudices.
Stems

5+, erect to scandent-sprawling (brown, branched from middle), moderately to densely finely hairy.

Leaves

(yellowish green) thick, firm, margins entire;

basal early deciduous, sessile or subpetiolate, blades (3-nerved) oblanceolate to obovate, 10–43 × 7–15 mm, bases cuneate, margins scabrous, apices acute to obtuse, faces sparsely finely scabrous;

proximal cauline sessile, blades narrowly obovate to oblanceolate, 20–35 × 5–13 mm, bases auriculate-clasping, margins finely scabrous, apices acute to obtuse, faces finely scabrous, shiny;

distal sessile, blades lanceolate to linear, 3–10 × 1–4 mm, gradually reduced to bracts distally, bases subclasping and adnate to stem for 1/2+ length, apices narrowly acute, white-spinulose, faces finely scabrous, viscid, minutely stipitate-glandular.

Peduncles

densely short-strigose, glandular, bracts linear, adnate, densely short-strigose.

Involucres

campanulate, 4–6.5 mm.

Ray florets

10–20;

corollas light to dark lavender, laminae 5–8 × 0.5–1.5 mm.

Disc florets

12–25;

corollas yellow, 3.7–7 mm, throats narrowly funnelform, lobes triangular, 0.4–0.8 mm.

Phyllaries

in 4–5 series, oblong to oblanceolate, strongly unequal, bases (tan) ± indurate, margins hyaline, finely scabrous, green zones lenticular, in distal 1/4–2/5, apices obtuse, mucronate to finely subspinulose, faces scabrellous-puberulent, stipitate-glandular.

Heads

in ± open, paniculiform arrays, branches initially patent then ascending or divaricate.

Cypselae

tan to brown, obovoid, not compressed, 2–2.5 mm, 6–10-nerved (faint), faces sparsely strigose;

pappi tan, 3.75–8 mm.

2n

= 20.

Symphyotrichum adnatum

Phenology Flowering Oct–Dec.
Habitat Sandy, clayey soils, sandhills, oak-pine scrub, open pine flatwoods, roadsides
Elevation 0–100+ m (0–300+ ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AL; FL; GA; LA; MS
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Source FNA vol. 20, p. 491.
Parent taxa Asteraceae > tribe Astereae > Symphyotrichum > subg. Virgulus
Sibling taxa
S. anomalum, S. anticostense, S. ascendens, S. boreale, S. bracteolatum, S. campestre, S. chapmanii, S. chilense, S. ciliatum, S. ciliolatum, S. concolor, S. cordifolium, S. cusickii, S. defoliatum, S. depauperatum, S. drummondii, S. dumosum, S. elliottii, S. ericoides, S. eulae, S. falcatum, S. fendleri, S. firmum, S. foliaceum, S. fontinale, S. frondosum, S. georgianum, S. grandiflorum, S. greatae, S. hallii, S. hendersonii, S. jessicae, S. laeve, S. lanceolatum, S. lateriflorum, S. laurentianum, S. lentum, S. molle, S. nahanniense, S. novae-angliae, S. novi-belgii, S. oblongifolium, S. ontarionis, S. oolentangiense, S. parviceps, S. patens, S. phlogifolium, S. pilosum, S. plumosum, S. porteri, S. potosinum, S. praealtum, S. pratense, S. prenanthoides, S. priceae, S. puniceum, S. pygmaeum, S. racemosum, S. retroflexum, S. rhiannon, S. robynsianum, S. sericeum, S. shortii, S. simmondsii, S. spathulatum, S. subspicatum, S. subulatum, S. tenuifolium, S. tradescantii, S. turbinellum, S. undulatum, S. urophyllum, S. walteri, S. welshii, S. yukonense, S. ×amethystinum
Synonyms Aster adnatus, Lasallea adnata, Virgulus adnatus
Name authority (Nuttall) G. L. Nesom: Phytologia 77: 275. (1995)
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