Symphyotrichum dumosum |
Symphyotrichum falcatum |
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bushy American-aster, bushy aster, rice button aster |
Lindley's aster, little gray aster, little grey aster, western heath or white prairie aster, white prairie aster |
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Habit | Perennials, (20–)30–100 cm, colonial or cespitose; usually long-rhizomatous, often thick, woody, sometimes short, or with short, stout caudices. | Perennials 10–80 cm colonial or cespitose, eglandular; with branched rhizomes or with ± cormoid, branched, woody caudices. | ||||
Stems | 1–5+, erect (straight, often slender, brittle), densely or sparsely strigose to glabrescent or glabrate. |
1–5+, ascending to erect (grayish brown to brown), moderately to densely hairy. |
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Leaves | firm, margins entire to crenulate-serrate, recurved, scabrous, apices sharply white-mucronate, abaxial faces glabrous or glabrate to sparsely strigillose, adaxial glabrous or glabrate to submarginally scabrous (short-strigose), cauline withering by flowering (except on array branches), often with axillary leaf clusters; basal withering by flowering, petiolate, petioles winged, sheathing, strigose-ciliate, blades oblanceolate to spatulate (often declined), 8–50 × 3–15 mm, bases attenuate to cuneate, margins crenate-serrate, apices obtuse or rounded to ± acute; proximal cauline (mostly declined) subpetiolate (petioles widely winged, clasping) or sessile (then not or barely clasping), blades linear-oblanceolate, 25–120 × 1.5–9 mm, bases cuneate to slightly attenuate; distal (ascending or spreading) sessile, blades oblong or linear-lanceolate to linear, 2–45 × 0.5–4 mm, reduced distally (abruptly on branches), bases cuneate to rounded, not clasping, margins entire or serrate. |
(light grayish green) firm, margins entire, strigose, apices ± spine-tipped; basal withering by flowering, sessile, blades oblanceolate, 10–40 × 3–10 mm, bases attenuate, margins usually entire, rarely remotely serrate, scabrous, apices acute to obtuse, rounded to mucronulate-spinose, faces glabrate to moderately strigose; proximal cauline sessile, blades linear oblanceolate to oblong, 10–40(–60) × 1.5–4(–7) mm, reduced distally, bases cuneate, margins entire, coarsely ciliate, apices acute or obtuse, faces sparsely to densely appressed hispido-strigose; distal sessile, blades linear-oblong to linear-lanceolate, 25–45 × 2–3 mm, bases cuneate, margins entire, apices acute, faces moderately to densely strigose. |
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Peduncles | slender, usually stiff (sometimes lax), (0.5–)1–5 cm (rarely subsessile), progressively reduced distally, usually not secund, sparsely strigillose or glabrous, bracts 5–16+, spreading to ascending, linear-oblong or -elliptic to subulate or linear, progressively reduced distally, grading into phyllaries. |
0.2–4 cm, densely hairy, bracts 1–3+, linear to lanceolate, densely hairy. |
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Involucres | cylindro-campanulate, (3–)4.5–6.3 mm. |
campanulate, (4.5–)5–8 mm. |
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Ray florets | 15–33; corollas pale blue, pink, or lavender to white, laminae (4–)5–7(–8) × 1–1.7 mm. |
(15–)20–35; corollas usually white, sometimes blue or pink, laminae (8–)18–30 × 1.1–1.4 mm. |
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Disc florets | 15–30; corollas cream to pale yellow turning pink, 3.5–4.5 mm, tubes shorter than to equal to narrowly funnelform throats, lobes lanceolate, (0.4–)0.6–1.1 mm. |
(8–)18–30; corollas yellow becoming brown, 2–2.5 mm, lobes triangular, 0.7–1.2 mm, glabrous. |
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Phyllaries | in 4–6 series, appressed or slightly spreading, oblong-oblanceolate (outer) to linear-oblanceolate or linear (innermost), strongly unequal, bases indurate (1/2–)2/3–4/5, margins hyaline, scarious, erose, distally ciliolate, green zones oblanceolate to elliptic (subapical), apices acute to obtuse (scarious), sometimes faintly reddish, mucronulate, faces usually glabrous, sometimes glabrate. |
in 3–4 series, outer oblanceolate to spatulate (1.5–2 mm), inner linear-lanceolate (3–4 mm), unequal, bases (whitish to tan) ± indurate in basal 1/2–3/4, margins hyaline, scabrous proximally, green zones diamond-shaped, in distal 1/4–1/2, apices (outer) acute to obtuse, clear spine-tipped, spreading to reflexed, (inner) acuminate to attenuate, faces sparsely to moderately hispid-strigose. |
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Heads | in remote, diffuse, open, paniculiform arrays, branches numerous, ascending to stiffly ascending, secondary ones stiff, racemiform (usually not secund). |
[(1–)10–200+] in racemiform to diffuse-paniculiform arrays (1–10+ per branch, usually not crowded). |
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Cypselae | pink or stramineous with pink streaks, or gray (± dark, nerves stramineous), oblong-obovoid, sometimes ± compressed, 1.5–2.5 mm, 3–4-nerved (nerves prominent), faces strigillose; pappi white to sordid, 4 mm. |
dark brown, obovoid, not compressed, 2–2.5 mm, faint-nerved, faces densely strigose; pappi whitish, 4.5–6 mm. |
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2n | = 16, 32. |
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Symphyotrichum dumosum |
Symphyotrichum falcatum |
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Phenology | Flowering Aug–Oct. | |||||
Habitat | Open or wooded, moist or wet soils, bogs, fens, sedge meadows, marshes, swamps, flood plains, sandy or calcareous flats, loamy prairies, old fields, sandhills, flatwoods, hammocks, pine-hickory woods, oak or pine thickets, secondary woods, sandy to mucky or marly shores of lakes and ponds, interdunal hollows | |||||
Elevation | 0–700 m (0–2300 ft) | |||||
Distribution |
AL; AR; CT; DC; DE; FL; GA; IA; IL; IN; KY; LA; MA; MD; ME; MI; MO; MS; NC; NH; NJ; NY; OH; OK; PA; RI; SC; TN; TX; VA; WI; WV; NB; ON
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AK; AZ; CO; IA; ID; IL; KS; MN; MO; MT; ND; NE; NM; OK; SD; TX; UT; WI; WY; AB; BC; MB; NT; ON; SK; YT; n Mexico
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Discussion | Symphyotrichum dumosum is introduced in New Brunswick. It is widely cultivated. It can hybridize with S. racemosum and S. lanceolatum var. interior (A. G. Jones 1989). G. L. Nesom (1994b) and J. C. Semple et al. (2002) recognized several varieties within the complex: var. dumosum [syn. Aster coridifolius Michaux, A. dumosus Linnaeus var. coridifolius (Michaux) Torrey & A. Gray]; var. gracilipes (Wiegand) G. L. Nesom (syn. A. dumosus var. gracilipes Wiegand); var. pergracile (Wiegand) G. L. Nesom (syn. A. dumosus var. pergracile Wiegand); var. strictior (Torrey & A. Gray) G. L. Nesom [syn. A. dumosus var. strictior Torrey & A. Gray, A. dumosus var. dodgei Fernald, S. dumosum var. dodgei (Fernald) G. L. Nesom, the latter possibly the hybrid S. dumosum × S. boreale fide G. L. Nesom 1997]; and var. subulifolium (Torrey & A. Gray) G. L. Nesom (syn. A. dumosus var. subulifolium Torrey & A. Gray). Some of these taxa may deserve higher rank. More work is needed in the complex, however, before a coherent taxonomy can be achieved. G. L. Nesom (1997) recognized also a southern pine flatwoods entity called Symphyotrichum kralii G. L. Nesom, based on the illegitimately named Aster pinifolius Alexander (not Nees, nor F. Mueller). The type of A. pinifolius, however, appears to be conspecific with that of S. simmondsii. At present, it seems best to wait for full investigation before formally recognizing such taxa. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Varieties 2 (2 in the flora). Symphyotrichum falcatum is introduced in Ontario and Illinois. It may closely resemble S. ericoides, which has smaller heads with fewer florets in denser arrays. The two can be difficult to distinguish on the Great Plains. A. G. Jones (1978) recognized two subspecies of S. falcatum, one with two varieties. Those two subspecies are treated as varieties here. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 20, p. 514. | FNA vol. 20, p. 496. | ||||
Parent taxa | Asteraceae > tribe Astereae > Symphyotrichum > subg. Symphyotrichum > sect. Symphyotrichum | Asteraceae > tribe Astereae > Symphyotrichum > subg. Virgulus | ||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||
Synonyms | Aster dumosus, Aster coridifolius | Aster falcatus, Lasallea falcatus, Virgulus falcatus | ||||
Name authority | (Linnaeus) G. L. Nesom: Phytologia 77: 280. (1995) | (Lindley) G. L. Nesom: Phytologia 77: 281. (1995) | ||||
Web links |