Symphyotrichum foliaceum |
Symphyotrichum dumosum |
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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 |
bushy American-aster, bushy aster, rice button aster |
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Habit | Perennials 10–60 cm, colonial; long-rhizomatous. | Perennials, (20–)30–100 cm, colonial or cespitose; usually long-rhizomatous, often thick, woody, sometimes short, or with short, stout caudices. | ||||||||||||
Stems | 1–5+, ascending to erect, glabrous or sparsely puberulent. |
1–5+, erect (straight, often slender, brittle), densely or sparsely strigose to glabrescent or glabrate. |
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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. |
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. |
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Peduncles | sparsely hairy, bracts 0–3, lanceolate. |
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. |
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Involucres | campanulate, 6–16(–20) mm. |
cylindro-campanulate, (3–)4.5–6.3 mm. |
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Ray florets | 15–60; corollas violet to purple, laminae 8–18(–20) × 1–2 mm. |
15–33; corollas pale blue, pink, or lavender to white, laminae (4–)5–7(–8) × 1–1.7 mm. |
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Disc florets | 50–150; corollas yellow, 4–7 mm, lobes triangular, 0.4–1 mm. |
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. |
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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 4–6 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. |
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Heads | borne singly or in paniculiform arrays, branches ascending, up to 25 cm. |
in remote, diffuse, open, paniculiform arrays, branches numerous, ascending to stiffly ascending, secondary ones stiff, racemiform (usually not secund). |
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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. |
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. |
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2n | = 16, 32. |
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Symphyotrichum foliaceum |
Symphyotrichum dumosum |
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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 |
AK; AZ; CA; CO; ID; MT; NM; NV; OR; UT; WA; WY; AB; BC
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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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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.) |
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.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 20, p. 532. | FNA vol. 20, p. 514. | ||||||||||||
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 dumosus, Aster coridifolius | ||||||||||||
Name authority | (Lindley ex de Candolle) G. L. Nesom: Phytologia 77: 282. (1995) | (Linnaeus) G. L. Nesom: Phytologia 77: 280. (1995) | ||||||||||||
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