Symphyotrichum foliaceum |
Symphyotrichum boreale |
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alpine leafybract aster, Canby's leafybract aster, Cusick's American aster, Cusick's aster, Henderson's aster, Kootenai aster, leafy aster, leafy or leafy-bract or alpine leafybract aster, leafy-bract aster, Parry's aster |
aster boréal, northern bog aster, rush American-aster, rush aster, rush or slender white or northern bog aster, slender white aster |
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Habit | Perennials 10–60 cm, colonial; long-rhizomatous. | Perennials (5.5–)13–85 cm, colonial; slender (0.6–2.8 mm diam.), long-rhizomatous (rhizomes of season shallow- or deep-seated, not producing rosettes near parent stems). | ||||||||||||
Stems | 1–5+, ascending to erect, glabrous or sparsely puberulent. |
1–3+, erect (straight, slender, often reddish to slightly glaucous proximally), glabrous. |
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Leaves | thin, margins entire or sometimes serrate, apices acute to obtuse, faces usually glabrous, sometimes sparsely hairy; basal usually persistent, petiolate to subpetiolate, blades broadly elliptic to obovate, 30–200 × 8–25(–30) mm, bases attenuate, margins entire or sometimes serrate, apices acute to obtuse; proximal cauline sessile or subpetiolate, blades elliptic to obovate, 35–120 × 8–25 mm, bases attenuate or cuneate to rounded, sometimes ± clasping, apices acute; distal sessile, reduced distally, bases cuneate, apices acute. |
stiff, margins entire to sparsely subserrulate, revolute, scabrellous, apices mucronulate, sometimes with callous point, faces glabrous, abaxial midveins sometimes sparsely strigillose; basal withering by flowering, subpetiolate to petiolate, petioles winged, base dilated, sheathing, eciliate, blades linear-oblanceolate to ovate or suborbiculate, 20–150 × 5–60 mm, bases attenuate, margins shallowly serrate or entire, apices obtuse to rounded; proximal cauline withering by flowering, sessile or subpetiolate, petioles widely winged, bases strongly clasping, blades linear-lanceolate to linear, 15–90 × 2–12 mm, bases attenuate to cuneate or subauriculate, ± clasping, apices obtuse to acute; distal sessile, blades linear-lanceolate (sometimes lanceolate) to linear, (40–)60–150 × 2–6(–8) mm, ± reduced distally, bases subauriculate, subclasping, margins entire or sometimes remotely serrulate, apices acute. |
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Peduncles | sparsely hairy, bracts 0–3, lanceolate. |
0.5–5 cm, glabrous, bracts 1–3, remote, linear-lanceolate to linear, reduced distally, not grading into phyllaries (sometimes subtending heads). |
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Involucres | campanulate, 6–16(–20) mm. |
cylindro-campanulate, (4–)5–8 mm. |
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Ray florets | 15–60; corollas violet to purple, laminae 8–18(–20) × 1–2 mm. |
(15–)25–35(–41); corollas white to often pale rose, pale purple or lavender, laminae (7–)10–15(–20) × 1.1–1.5 mm. |
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Disc florets | 50–150; corollas yellow, 4–7 mm, lobes triangular, 0.4–1 mm. |
(15–)25–30(–40); corollas cream or pale yellow becoming pink or brown purple, 3.7–6.6 mm, tubes shorter than funnelform throats, lobes triangular, 0.5–1 mm. |
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Phyllaries | in 4–6 series, oblanceolate or oblong (outer) to lanceolate or linear (inner), subequal or unequal (outer exceeding inner), bases outer foliaceous, inner indurate, margins entire, green zones elliptic to lanceolate, apices acute to rounded, faces glabrous or puberulent. |
in 4–5 series, usually appressed, rarely outer recurved, lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate (outer) to linear (innermost) ± unequal to sometimes subequal, bases indurate 1/3–1/2 (sometimes not indurate), margins scarious, erose, hyaline or tinged with reddish purple, sparsely ciliolate, green zones lanceolate to linear-lanceolate, apices acute to acuminate, mucronate to apiculate, often purple or reddish purple (particularly inner), faces glabrous. |
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Heads | borne singly or in paniculiform arrays, branches ascending, up to 25 cm. |
borne singly or in open, often lax, racemiform or paniculiform arrays, branches ascending, sparsely leafy. |
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Cypselae | brown, cylindric to obovoid, not compressed, 2.5–4 mm, 3–4-nerved, faces hairy; pappi white to tawny, 5–8 mm. |
yellowish tan or purple to brownish with purple streaks or grayish tan (nerves stramineous), obovoid, ± compressed, 0.6–2 mm, 3–5-nerved, faces sparsely strigillose; pappi white, 2.7–6.4 mm. |
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2n | = 16, 32, 48, 64. |
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Symphyotrichum foliaceum |
Symphyotrichum boreale |
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Phenology | Flowering Aug–Oct. | |||||||||||||
Habitat | Mostly calcareous areas, fens, marshes, bogs, open cedar-tamarack-spruce swamps, stream and pond margins, wet meadows, swales | |||||||||||||
Elevation | 0–1500+ m (0–4900+ ft) | |||||||||||||
Distribution |
AK; AZ; CA; CO; ID; MT; NM; NV; OR; UT; WA; WY; AB; BC
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AK; CO; IA; ID; IL; IN; MA; MI; MN; MT; ND; NE; NH; NJ; NY; OH; PA; SD; VT; WA; WI; WV; WY; AB; BC; MB; NB; NF; NS; NT; NU; ON; PE; QC; SK; YT
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Discussion | Varieties 4 (4 in the flora). Symphyotrichum foliaceum is extremely variable and is widespread in western montane coniferous forests and subalpine meadows. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Some of the western populations originally determined as Symphyotrichum boreale in western Wyoming and adjacent Montana are referable to S. welshii. Those of eastern Wyoming, Colorado, and the Black Hills are S. boreale. There is a gap between the ranges of the two species in Wyoming where neither occurs. Symphyotrichum ×longulum (E. Sheldon) G. L. Nesom (syn. Aster longulus E. Sheldon), reported from Minnesota, is the hybrid between S. boreale and S. puniceum var. puniceum. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 20, p. 532. | FNA vol. 20, p. 522. | ||||||||||||
Parent taxa | Asteraceae > tribe Astereae > Symphyotrichum > subg. Symphyotrichum > sect. Occidentales | Asteraceae > tribe Astereae > Symphyotrichum > subg. Symphyotrichum > sect. Symphyotrichum | ||||||||||||
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Synonyms | Aster foliaceus | Aster laxifolius var. borealis, Aster borealis, Aster franklinianus, Aster junciformis | ||||||||||||
Name authority | (Lindley ex de Candolle) G. L. Nesom: Phytologia 77: 282. (1995) | (Torrey & A. Gray) Á. Löve & D. Löve: Taxon 31: 358. (1982) | ||||||||||||
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