Symphyotrichum ericoides |
Symphyotrichum chapmanii |
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aster éricoïde, heath American-aster, heath-leaf aster, little gray aster, rayless alkali aster, tuft white prairie aster, white heath aster |
savanna aster |
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Habit | Perennials, 20–80(–100) cm, colonial or cespitose, eglandular; branched rhizomatous, or with ± cormoid, branched, woody caudices. | Perennials, 30–80 cm, cespitose; rhizomes stout. | ||||
Stems | 1–3+, ascending to erect (grayish brown to brown), sparsely to densely hispido-strigose, sometimes glabrescent proximally. |
1–3+, erect (sometimes brown proximally, strict to straight), glabrous. |
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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. |
green to dark green, firm, ± fleshy, margins entire, ciliate, apices acute, callous, faces sparsely strigillose; basal persistent or petiole bases marcescent, long-petiolate (to 15 cm; petioles sheathing, margins glabrous), blades linear to linear-lanceolate, 10–30 × 2–7 mm, bases cuneate to subattenuate, margins sparsely denticulate or entire, indurate-translucent; proximal cauline persistent, sessile or subpetiolate, blades linear, 42–105 × 1–3 mm, bases clasping, margins often revolute; distal sessile, blades usually linear, sometimes awl-shaped, 50–180 × 5–10 mm, strongly reduced distally, more abruptly so on array branches, bases subclasping to adnate for 1/2+ length, margins often revolute. |
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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. |
1–20+ cm, slender, glabrous, bracts 4–22, linear (awl-shaped), grading into phyllaries. |
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Involucres | cylindric to campanulate, 2.5–4.5(–5) mm. |
cylindro-campanulate, 5.5–9 mm. |
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Ray florets | (8–)10–18(–20); corollas usually white, rarely pink or bluish, laminae 6–12(–20) × 0.7–1.2 mm. |
8–23; corollas purple to blue-lavender, laminae (10–)14–15(–20) × 0.8–2.2 mm. |
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Disc florets | 6–12(–20); corollas yellow becoming brown, 2.5–4 mm, throats narrowly funnelform, lobes triangular, 0.5–0.6 mm, glabrous. |
47–57; corollas pale yellow, 4.7–6.3 mm, throats funnelform to narrowly campanulate, lobes triangular, 0.5–0.7 mm (proximally sparsely pilose). |
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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(–6) series, oblong-lanceolate (outer) to linear-lanceolate (innermost), bases indurate (at least inner), margins scarious, hyaline, purplish distally, ciliolate, green zones narrowly lanceolate, not evident, apices purplish, acute (outer) to acuminate (inner), sometimes mucronate (inner), faces sparsely villous. |
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Heads | (1–200+) in paniculiform arrays, branches fastigiate or arrays often pyramidal, racemiform, secund, crowded. |
in open, usually corymbiform, sometimes ± paniculiform arrays, branches ascending, simple, slender, elongate. |
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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 gray-brown (nerves stramineous), obovoid, compressed, 3.1–4.5 mm, 8–10(–14)-nerved, faces glabrous; pappi yellowish, 4.4–4.7 mm. |
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2n | = 14. |
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Symphyotrichum ericoides |
Symphyotrichum chapmanii |
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Phenology | Flowering Sep–Nov(–Dec). | |||||
Habitat | Wet savannas, pine flatwoods, bogs, and acid swamps | |||||
Elevation | 0–30 m (0–100 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
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AL; FL |
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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.) |
Of conservation concern. Symphyotrichum chapmanii is known from the Appalachicola Valley, northern Florida and adjacent southeast Alabama (where it is possibly extirpated), and is disjunct to St. Lucie County (Florida). (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 20, p. 494. | FNA vol. 20, p. 478. | ||||
Parent taxa | Asteraceae > tribe Astereae > Symphyotrichum > subg. Virgulus | Asteraceae > tribe Astereae > Symphyotrichum > subg. Chapmaniani | ||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||
Synonyms | Aster ericoides, Lasallea ericoides, Virgulus ericoides | Aster chapmanii, Eurybia chapmanii, Heleastrum chapmanii | ||||
Name authority | (Linnaeus) G. L. Nesom: Phytologia 77: 280. (1995) | (Torrey & A. Gray) Semple & Brouillet: in J. C. Semple et al., Cult. Native Asters Ontario, 133. (2002) | ||||
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