Symphyotrichum ascendens |
Symphyotrichum drummondii |
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intermountain aster, long-leaf aster, long-leaf or intermountain or western aster, western American aster, western aster |
Drummond's aster |
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Habit | Perennials 20–60 cm, colonial; long-rhizomatous. | Perennials, 30–120 cm, cespitose; short-rhizomatous or with stout, often woody caudices. | ||||
Stems | 1–5+, ascending to erect, densely and uniformly strigose, especially distally. |
1–5+, erect (straight, stout), glabrate or glabrescent, sparsely pilose, or hirsuto-pilose proximally, ± densely so distally. |
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Leaves | (grayish green) thin to firm, margins entire, apices acute, faces glabrous or strigose; basal usually persistent, petiolate, blades oblanceolate, 50–150 × 5–12(–15) mm, bases attenuate or cuneate, margins entire, apices usually acute; proximal cauline sessile or subpetiolate, blades oblong to narrowly obovate, 50–120 × 5–12 mm, bases attenuate or cuneate; distal sessile, blades 30–70 × 4–10 mm, reduced distally, bases cuneate to ± rounded. |
(abaxially pale or grayish green, adaxially dark green) initially ± firm or membranous, becoming thicker, margins crenate-serrate to serrate, strigoso-ciliate to scabrous, apices acuminate to acute, mucronate, abaxial faces scabrous to densely piloso-strigose, more so on veins, adaxial scabrous to glabrate; basal withering by flowering, long-petiolate (petioles narrowly winged, sheathing, sometimes ciliate), blades ovate to ovate-oblong or -lanceolate to elliptic or suborbiculate, 10–85(–100) × 8–60 mm, bases deeply cordate to rounded or abruptly attenuate, margins crenate-serrate, apices usually rounded to obtuse, rarely acute; proximal cauline often withering by flowering, long-petiolate (petioles narrowly winged, more broadly so distally, ciliate), blades ovate or ovate-lanceolate, (25–)50–120(–150) × (15–)20–50(–65) mm, progressively to slightly reduced distally, bases deeply to shallowly cordate or rounded, margins crenate-serrate to sharply serrate; distal petiolate or subpetiolate or sessile, petioles broadly winged, blades ovate to ovate- or oblong-lanceolate, to oblong-elliptic or linear-lanceolate (4–)5–110 × 1–50 mm, reduced distally (sharply so on array branches in var. texanum), bases shallowly cordate or rounded to attenuate or cuneate (distally), margins crenate-serrate or -serrulate or entire. |
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Peduncles | moderately to densely strigose, bracts 1–4, linear to oblanceolate. |
0, or 0.2–1.5(–4) cm, densely ascending- or appressed-bracteate, pilosulous, bracts 4–17+, lanceolate or subulate to linear-oblanceolate, distally grading into phyllaries, pilosulous or strigoso-ciliate. |
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Involucres | campanulate, 4–7 mm. |
campanulate, (3.5–)4.5–6(–6.5) mm. |
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Ray florets | (10–)15–40; corollas violet, laminae 8–13 × 1–1.5 mm. |
(8–)10–15(—20); corollas usually bright blue to purple or lavender, sometimes white, laminae (5–)7–10(–12) × 1–1.8 mm. |
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Disc florets | 25–65(–80); corollas yellow, sometimes purple-tinged, 4–6 mm, lobes triangular, 0.4–0.8 mm. |
(10–)13–15(–22); corollas cream to yellow, becoming deep purple or reddish purple, 3.5–4.5(–5) mm, tubes shorter than funnelform to cylindric throats, lobes triangular to lanceolate, 0.4–0.7 mm. |
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Phyllaries | in 3–5 series, narrowly oblanceolate or linear (outer) to linear (inner), unequal, bases indurate, margins entire, green zones obovate to elliptic, apices obtuse, faces densely strigose. |
in 4–5 series, subulate or lanceolate (outermost) to narrowly oblong-lanceolate, unequal, bases indurate 1/4–3/4, margins narrowly scarious proximally, hyaline, ciliate, bodies sometimes green to margins distally, green zones lanceolate to linear-lanceolate, apices acute to acuminate or long-acuminate, tips often purple, sometimes involute, mucronulate, faces glabrous. |
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Heads | in paniculiform arrays, branches ascending. |
in open, paniculiform arrays, branches ascending to divaricate, often densely racemiform or ± paniculiform (lateral ones open, racemiform) to subsecund, ± stiff to lax, long to relatively short, ± closely to ± remotely leafy, branch leaves progressively or ± abruptly reduced distally. |
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Cypselae | brown, cylindric to obovoid, not compressed, 2–3.5 mm, 3–5-nerved, faces hairy; pappi whitish, 4–7 mm. |
dull purple or brown to tan (ribs tan to stramineous), obovoid, ± compressed, (1.5–)2–3 mm, 5–6-nerved, faces glabrate to sparsely strigillose distally; pappi cream to rose-tinged, 3–4 mm. |
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2n | = 26, 36, 52. |
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Symphyotrichum ascendens |
Symphyotrichum drummondii |
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Phenology | Flowering Jul–Aug. | |||||
Habitat | Meadows, grasslands, damp areas in sagebrush steppe and Ponderosa pine woodlands | |||||
Elevation | 500–3200 m (1600–10500 ft) | |||||
Distribution |
AZ; CA; CO; ID; MT; ND; NM; NV; OR; UT; WA; WY; AB; BC; SK
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AL; AR; GA; IA; IL; IN; KS; KY; LA; MD; MI; MN; MO; MS; NE; OH; OK; PA; TN; TX; WI; WV; ne Mexico
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Discussion | Symphyotrichum ascendens is widely distributed in the Great Basin. It is an allopolyploid derived from the hybrid between S. spathulatum (x = 8) and S. falcatum (x = 5). Chromosome numbers differ markedly in their geographic distribution, 2n = 26 prevailing in the southwestern part of the range, and 2n = 52 in the northeastern part (G. A. Allen 1985) Backcrosses to both parental species or hybrids with related taxa are sometimes seen where the ranges overlap. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Varieties 2 (2 in the flora). Variety texanum is tetraploid; var. drummondii is both diploid and tetraploid. The tetraploid race of var. drummondii is most likely autopolyploid; origin of var. texanum has not been determined. The two taxa intergrade and do not appear to warrant species status. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 20, p. 538. | FNA vol. 20, p. 503. | ||||
Parent taxa | Asteraceae > tribe Astereae > Symphyotrichum > subg. Ascendentes | Asteraceae > tribe Astereae > Symphyotrichum > subg. Symphyotrichum > sect. Symphyotrichum | ||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||
Synonyms | Aster ascendens, Aster chilensis subsp. ascendens | Aster drummondii, Aster sagittifolius var. drummondii | ||||
Name authority | (Lindley) G. L. Nesom: Phytologia 77: 276. (1995) | (Lindley) G. L. Nesom: Phytologia 77: 279. (1995) | ||||
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