Symphyotrichum ericoides |
Symphyotrichum laeve |
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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 |
aster lisse, Geyer's aster, smooth American-aster, smooth aster, smooth blue aster |
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Habit | Perennials, 20–80(–100) cm, colonial or cespitose, eglandular; branched rhizomatous, or with ± cormoid, branched, woody caudices. | Perennials (15–)20–70(–120) cm, cespitose; stoutly short-rhizomatous, with thick, woody caudices or a few, long rhizomes. | ||||||||||||||||
Stems | 1–3+, ascending to erect (grayish brown to brown), sparsely to densely hispido-strigose, sometimes glabrescent proximally. |
1–5+, erect (straight, glaucous, sometimes reddish proximally), glabrous, sometimes sparsely hirsute distally. |
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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. |
(glaucous) thick, firm, ± fleshy, margins crenate-serrate or -serrulate or entire, scabridulous, apices mucronulate, faces glabrous; basal usually withering by flowering or sometimes persistent (var. purpuratum), petiolate (petioles ± winged, bases dilated, sheathing), blades spatulate or oblong to ovate or lanceolate-ovate, 30–200 × 10–25(–30) mm, bases attenuate or cuneate to rounded, margins crenate-serrate to serrulate, apices acute to obtuse or rounded; proximal cauline often withering by flowering, petiolate or subsessile or sessile (petioles narrowly to broadly winged, clasping), blades ovate or oblong-ovate to lanceolate or linear-lanceolate, sometimes ± panduriform, (40–)80–150(–180) × (10–)20–45 mm, bases attenuate to rounded or ± shallowly auriculate-clasping, margins entire or shallowly crenate-serrate, minutely scabrous, apices acute or obtuse, callus-pointed; distal sessile, blades lance-ovate or lanceolate to linear, 7–45 × 1–14 mm, progressively reduced distally (abruptly so in arrays), bases auriculate and ± clasping to rounded, margins entire. |
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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. |
0.2–6+ cm, glaucous, glabrous or puberulent in lines, bracts 3–6, densely spaced, subulate or linear-lanceolate to linear, subclasping, apices sometimes purplish, grading into phyllaries. |
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Involucres | cylindric to campanulate, 2.5–4.5(–5) mm. |
campanulate to cylindro-campanulate, (4.2–)5–7(–8) 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. |
(11–)13–23(–34); corollas usually pale to dark blue or purple, seldom white, laminae (6–)7.2–11.3(–14.6) × 1.5–2.5 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. |
(17–)19–33(–43); corollas yellow turning purplish red, 3.5–6.1 mm, tubes slightly shorter than funnelform throats, lobes triangular, (0.4–)0.6–1 mm. |
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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 4–6 series, appressed, subulate or lanceolate (outer) to oblong-lanceolate or linear-lancolate or -oblanceolate, unequal (sometimes appearing subequal), bases indurate 1/2–3/4, margins scarious, erose, hyaline, ciliolate distally, green zones mostly diamond-shaped to ± lanceolate (some inner, or most in var. geyeri), apices acute to acuminate, sometimes ± obtuse, red-mucronate or apiculate, faces glabrous. |
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Heads | (1–200+) in paniculiform arrays, branches fastigiate or arrays often pyramidal, racemiform, secund, crowded. |
in broad, sometimes ± flat-topped, paniculiform arrays, branches stiffly ascending (rarely arching), leafy with small, gradually reduced branch leaves. |
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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. |
deep purple to brown, oblong-obovoid, compressed, 2–3.5 mm, 4–5-nerved, faces glabrous or glabrate; pappi tawny to red- or rose-tinged, 5–7 mm. |
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Symphyotrichum ericoides |
Symphyotrichum laeve |
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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; AR; CA; CO; CT; DC; DE; FL; GA; IA; ID; IL; IN; KS; KY; LA; MA; MD; ME; MI; MN; MO; MS; MT; NC; ND; NE; NH; NJ; NM; NV; NY; OH; PA; RI; SC; SD; TN; TX; UT; VA; VT; WA; WI; WV; WY; AB; BC; MB; NB; ON; QC; SK; YT; ne Mexico [Introduced in other areas of Mexico, Central America, Europe]
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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.) |
Varieties 4 (4 in the flora). (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. 508. | ||||||||||||||||
Parent taxa | Asteraceae > tribe Astereae > Symphyotrichum > subg. Virgulus | Asteraceae > tribe Astereae > Symphyotrichum > subg. Symphyotrichum > sect. Symphyotrichum | ||||||||||||||||
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Synonyms | Aster ericoides, Lasallea ericoides, Virgulus ericoides | Aster laevis | ||||||||||||||||
Name authority | (Linnaeus) G. L. Nesom: Phytologia 77: 280. (1995) | (Linnaeus) Á. Löve & D. Löve: Taxon 31: 359. (1982) | ||||||||||||||||
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