Symphyotrichum foliaceum |
Symphyotrichum ericoides |
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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 éricoïde, heath American-aster, heath-leaf aster, little gray aster, rayless alkali aster, tuft white prairie aster, white heath aster |
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Habit | Perennials 10–60 cm, colonial; long-rhizomatous. | Perennials, 20–80(–100) cm, colonial or cespitose, eglandular; branched rhizomatous, or with ± cormoid, branched, woody caudices. | ||||||||||||||||
Stems | 1–5+, ascending to erect, glabrous or sparsely puberulent. |
1–3+, ascending to erect (grayish brown to brown), sparsely to densely hispido-strigose, sometimes glabrescent proximally. |
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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. |
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. |
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Peduncles | sparsely hairy, bracts 0–3, lanceolate. |
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. |
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Involucres | campanulate, 6–16(–20) mm. |
cylindric to campanulate, 2.5–4.5(–5) mm. |
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Ray florets | 15–60; corollas violet to purple, laminae 8–18(–20) × 1–2 mm. |
(8–)10–18(–20); corollas usually white, rarely pink or bluish, laminae 6–12(–20) × 0.7–1.2 mm. |
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Disc florets | 50–150; corollas yellow, 4–7 mm, lobes triangular, 0.4–1 mm. |
6–12(–20); corollas yellow becoming brown, 2.5–4 mm, throats narrowly funnelform, lobes triangular, 0.5–0.6 mm, glabrous. |
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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 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. |
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Heads | borne singly or in paniculiform arrays, branches ascending, up to 25 cm. |
(1–200+) in paniculiform arrays, branches fastigiate or arrays often pyramidal, racemiform, secund, crowded. |
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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. |
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. |
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Symphyotrichum foliaceum |
Symphyotrichum ericoides |
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Distribution |
AK; AZ; CA; CO; ID; MT; NM; NV; OR; UT; WA; WY; AB; BC
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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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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.) |
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.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 20, p. 532. | FNA vol. 20, p. 494. | ||||||||||||||||
Parent taxa | Asteraceae > tribe Astereae > Symphyotrichum > subg. Symphyotrichum > sect. Occidentales | Asteraceae > tribe Astereae > Symphyotrichum > subg. Virgulus | ||||||||||||||||
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Synonyms | Aster foliaceus | Aster ericoides, Lasallea ericoides, Virgulus ericoides | ||||||||||||||||
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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