Symphyotrichum ericoides |
Symphyotrichum adnatum |
|||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
aster éricoïde, heath American-aster, heath-leaf aster, little gray aster, rayless alkali aster, tuft white prairie aster, white heath aster |
scaleleaf aster |
|||||
Habit | Perennials, 20–80(–100) cm, colonial or cespitose, eglandular; branched rhizomatous, or with ± cormoid, branched, woody caudices. | Perennials, 30–120 cm, cespitose; with herbaceous or thick, woody, sometimes cormoid caudices. | ||||
Stems | 1–3+, ascending to erect (grayish brown to brown), sparsely to densely hispido-strigose, sometimes glabrescent proximally. |
5+, erect to scandent-sprawling (brown, branched from middle), moderately to densely finely hairy. |
||||
Leaves | usually all except rameal withered by flowering, (light grayish green) firm apices ± white-spine-tipped (often with clusters of smaller leaves in axils); basal sessile, blades (3-nerved) oblanceolate to oblong or spatulate, 10–50 × 10–25 mm, bases attenuate, margins usually entire, rarely remotely serrate, scabrous, apices rounded to obtuse, faces usually sparsely hairy, often glabrous; proximal cauline sessile, blades (1- or 3-nerved) linear to lanceolate or oblong, 10–40(–60) × 1.5–4(–7) mm, reduced distally, bases cuneate, coarsely ciliate, margins entire, coarsely ciliate, apices acute or obtuse, faces moderately to densely strigose or hirsute; distal sessile, blades oblong-ovate, 10–40 × 1.5–3.5 mm, abruptly reduced distally, bases cuneate, margins entire, apices acute, faces moderately to densely strigose. |
(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 | 0.5–1(–2) cm or subsessile, densely hairy, bracts dense, linear to narrowly lanceolate, usually reflexed, sometime appressed to ascending, 1.5–5(–6) mm, densely hairy, grading into phyllaries. |
densely short-strigose, glandular, bracts linear, adnate, densely short-strigose. |
||||
Involucres | cylindric to campanulate, 2.5–4.5(–5) mm. |
campanulate, 4–6.5 mm. |
||||
Ray florets | (8–)10–18(–20); corollas usually white, rarely pink or bluish, laminae 6–12(–20) × 0.7–1.2 mm. |
10–20; corollas light to dark lavender, laminae 5–8 × 0.5–1.5 mm. |
||||
Disc florets | 6–12(–20); corollas yellow becoming brown, 2.5–4 mm, throats narrowly funnelform, lobes triangular, 0.5–0.6 mm, glabrous. |
12–25; corollas yellow, 3.7–7 mm, throats narrowly funnelform, lobes triangular, 0.4–0.8 mm. |
||||
Phyllaries | in 3–4 series, oblanceolate to ± spatulate, unequal, firm, bases (whitish to tan) ± indurate in proximal 1/2–2/3, margins hyaline, scabrous proximally, green zones diamond-shaped, in distal 1/2, apices spine-tipped, (outer) spreading to reflexed or squarrose, faces (outer) sparsely to densely hispid, scabroso-hirsute adaxially, (inner) glabrous. |
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 | (1–200+) in paniculiform arrays, branches fastigiate or arrays often pyramidal, racemiform, secund, crowded. |
in ± open, paniculiform arrays, branches initially patent then ascending or divaricate. |
||||
Cypselae | deep purple turning brown, obovoid to oblong-obovoid, ± falcate, not compressed, 1.2–2 × 0.4–0.6 mm, 7–9-nerved (faint), faces sericeous or densely strigillose; pappi whitish, 3–4 mm. |
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 ericoides |
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 |
AR; AZ; CO; CT; DC; DE; IA; ID; IL; IN; KS; MA; MD; ME; MI; MN; MO; MS; MT; ND; NE; NJ; NM; NY; OH; OK; OR; PA; RI; SD; TX; UT; VA; VT; WA; WI; WV; WY; AB; BC; MB; NT; ON; QC; SK; n Mexico
|
AL; FL; GA; LA; MS
|
||||
Discussion | Varieties 2 (2 in the flora). Symphyotrichum ericoides resembles S. pilosum var. pilosum, which has larger heads, longer rays, and phyllaries that are not spine-tipped, though the revolute margins can make them appear so. Two subspecies and four weakly separated varieties of S. ericoides were recognized by A. G. Jones (1978). Tetraploids of var. ericoides on the eastern prairies can be difficult to distinguish from S. falcatum. A number of aster cultivars are sold under the name “Aster ericoides.” These are all derived from European garden plants and are either cultivars of S. dumosum, S. lateriflorum, S. pilosum, or S. racemosum, or hybrids involving one of those species and another taxon. The misapplication of the epithet ericoides dates back to the nineteenth century and has persisted in the horticultural literature. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
|||||
Key |
|
|||||
Source | FNA vol. 20, p. 494. | FNA vol. 20, p. 491. | ||||
Parent taxa | Asteraceae > tribe Astereae > Symphyotrichum > subg. Virgulus | Asteraceae > tribe Astereae > Symphyotrichum > subg. Virgulus | ||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||
Synonyms | Aster ericoides, Lasallea ericoides, Virgulus ericoides | Aster adnatus, Lasallea adnata, Virgulus adnatus | ||||
Name authority | (Linnaeus) G. L. Nesom: Phytologia 77: 280. (1995) | (Nuttall) G. L. Nesom: Phytologia 77: 275. (1995) | ||||
Web links |
|