Symphyotrichum anticostense |
Symphyotrichum molle |
|
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Anticosti American-aster, Anticosti aster, Anticosti Island aster, aster d'Anticosti |
soft aster |
|
Habit | Perennials, 10–90 cm, colonial; long-rhizomatous. | Perennials, 30–60 cm, colonial; long-rhizomatous. |
Stems | 1, erect (straight, often reddish), glabrous. |
1–5+, ascending to erect, densely puberulent to lanate, especially distally. |
Leaves | coriaceous, margins remotely serrulate or entire, slightly revolute, scabrous, apices mucronulate, faces glabrous; basal withering by flowering, long-petiolate (petioles narrowly winged, bases sheathing), blades lanceolate to oblanceolate, ca. 55+ × 3+ mm, bases slightly attenuate, apices acute; proximal cauline mostly withering by flowering, petiolate (petioles narrowly winged, sheathing), blades lanceolate or oblanceolate to linear-lanceolate or -oblanceolate, arcuate, 90–160 × 5–18 mm, bases cuneate to slightly attenuate, margins entire or serrulate, apices acute; distal sessile, blades linear to linear-lanceolate, 8–50 × 1.5–5 mm, progressively reduced distally, more strongly so in arrays, bases cuneate to rounded, sometimes slightly clasping, apices acute to acuminate. |
thin, margins entire, apices acute, faces densely lanate-puberulent; basal often withering by flowering, subpetiolate, blades oblanceolate, 15–50 × 5–20 mm, bases cuneate, margins entire, apices acute, faces densely lanate; proximal cauline sessile or subpetiolate, blades oblanceolate, 50–150 × 10–25 mm, bases slightly clasping, rarely auriculate; distal sessile, blades lanceolate, 30–100 × 10–20 mm, reduced distally, bases tapered, ± auriculate, apices acute. |
Peduncles | 0.8–5.7 cm, slender, sparsely ot moderately pilosulous, bracts 3–5, linear-lanceolate, often crowded proximal to and surpassing heads. |
densely cinereous to lanate, bracts 0–3, lanceolate to narrowly ovate. |
Involucres | campanulate, 6–10 mm. |
campanulate, 7–9 mm. |
Ray florets | 25–44; corollas usually pale purple or lilac, sometimes white, laminae 9.5–20 × 0.7–1.4 mm. |
20–35; corollas violet, laminae 12–20 × 1–2 mm. |
Disc florets | 29–52; corollas yellow becoming reddish purple, 5–6 mm, tubes slightly shorter than funnelform throats, lobes lanceolate, 0.6–0.7 mm. |
35–70; corollas yellow, 5–6.5 mm, lobes triangular, 0.5–1 mm. |
Phyllaries | in 2–3 series, oblong-oblanceolate or -spatulate (outer) or oblong-lanceolate to linear-lanceolate or linear (inner), ± unequal, bases indurate 1/3–3/4, margins hyaline, scarious, erose distally, sparsely ciliolate distally, green zones lanceolate, outer often foliaceous distally, apices acute to long-acuminate, ± spreading, faces glabrous. |
in 4–5(–6) series, squarrose, oblong to oblanceolate, unequal, bases of outer indurate less than 1/3, margins entire, green zones oblong-linear to oblanceolate, apices acute or obtuse (sometimes minutely mucronate), faces densely puberulent to lanate. |
Heads | in elongate, loosely racemiform arrays, branches ascending, heads single at ends of primary branches or long pedicels. |
in corymbiform to paniculiform arrays, branches to 20 cm. |
Cypselae | reddish tan, obovoid, compressed, 1.5–2.8 mm, 4–5-nerved, faces strigillose; pappi yellowish, 7–8 mm. |
brown, cylindric to obovoid, not compressed, 2.5–3.5 mm, 4–5-nerved, faces hairy; pappi whitish, 5–7 mm. |
2n | = 80. |
= 32. |
Symphyotrichum anticostense |
Symphyotrichum molle |
|
Phenology | Flowering Aug–Sep. | Flowering Aug. |
Habitat | Calcareous, gravelly shores of rivers, lakeshore limestone pavements | Dry montane meadows |
Elevation | 0–100 m (0–300 ft) | 2000–3000 m (6600–9800 ft) |
Distribution |
ME; NB; QC
|
WY
|
Discussion | Of conservation concern. Symphyotrichum anticostense is known from disjunct areas: western Lake St. John, southern Anticosti Island, southern streams of the Gaspé Peninsula (Quebec), Restigouche River (Quebec–New Brunswick), and St. John (New Brunswick) and Aroostook (Maine; A. Haines 2000) rivers. It is an allopolyploid derivative of the cross between the calcareous fen species S. boreale and the widespread shore species S. novi-belgii (J. Labrecque and L. Brouillet 1990). It hybridizes with S. novi-belgii. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Symphyotrichum molle is known only from the Big Horn Mountains of Wyoming. Because of its densely hairy leaves, stems, and involucres, it was compared by its author with S. jessicae, a narrow endemic of southeastern Washington and adjacent Idaho. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 20, p. 529. | FNA vol. 20, p. 535. |
Parent taxa | Asteraceae > tribe Astereae > Symphyotrichum > subg. Symphyotrichum > sect. Symphyotrichum | Asteraceae > tribe Astereae > Symphyotrichum > subg. Symphyotrichum > sect. Occidentales |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Aster anticostensis, Aster gaspensis, Aster hesperius var. gaspensis | Aster mollis |
Name authority | (Fernald) G. L. Nesom: Phytologia 77: 275. (1995) | (Rydberg) G. L. Nesom: Phytologia 77: 286. (1995) |
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