Symphyotrichum foliaceum |
Symphyotrichum oolentangiense |
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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 |
azure aster, skyblue aster |
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Habit | Perennials 10–60 cm, colonial; long-rhizomatous. | Perennials 20–150 cm, cespitose; short-rhizomatous or with branched, woody caudices. | ||||||||||||
Stems | 1–5+, ascending to erect, glabrous or sparsely puberulent. |
1–5+, erect (straight), glabrate to hispidulous, distally pilosulous to strigillose in arrays. |
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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. |
thick, firm, margins entire or crenate-serrate, scabrous, apices mucronate, faces scabrous, abaxial strigose to piloso-strigose or hirsute, adaxial strongly strigose; basal withering by flowering, long-petiolate (petioles slightly winged, bases dilated, sheathing, ciliate), blades ovate to lance-ovate, 40–150(–180) × 10–40(–60) mm, bases ± cordate or rounded to attenuate, margins crenate-serrate to subentire, apices rounded or obtuse to acute; proximal cauline petiolate (petioles narrowly winged, clasping), blades ovate or ovate-lanceolate to lanceolate, 30–130 × 12–70 mm, gradually or ± abruptly reduced distally, bases rounded to attenuate, margins entire, scabrous, apices acute or attenuate, callus-pointed; distal sessile or sometimes short-petiolate and ± winged (appressed or ascending), blades lanceolate or linear-lanceolate to subulate, 5–80 × 1–10 mm, strongly reduced distally (more sharply so on branches), bases attenuate to cuneate or ± rounded, margins entire. |
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Peduncles | sparsely hairy, bracts 0–3, lanceolate. |
ascending, 0.2–6 cm, glabrate, densely bracteate, bracts linear-subulate, scabrous- or ciliate-margined, often revolute, grading with phyllaries. |
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Involucres | campanulate, 6–16(–20) mm. |
campanulate to 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. |
(10–)13–20(–25); corollas usually pale to azure blue to violet-purple, (rarely rosy, white or bluish white), laminae (5–)8–12(–14) × 1.4–1.7 mm. |
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Disc florets | 50–150; corollas yellow, 4–7 mm, lobes triangular, 0.4–1 mm. |
(15–)20–25(–30); corollas light yellow turning deep purple, 4–5 mm, tubes much shorter than narrowly funnelform throats, lobes triangular to lanceolate, 0.4–0.7 mm (lobes sparsely hairy). |
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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–)4–6 series, appressed or outer slightly spreading, lanceolate to oblong-lanceolate, strongly unequal, bases indurate 1/2–3/4, margins scarious, erose, hyaline, ciliolate, apical green zones diamond-shaped, apices acute to acuminate or caudate (then tips often involute), mucronulate to apiculate, faces glabrous. |
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Heads | borne singly or in paniculiform arrays, branches ascending, up to 25 cm. |
in open, paniculiform arrays, branches ascending, stiff, sometimes long-arching and peduncles secund, ± ridged, densely leafy with small, ± appressed branch leaves, ± strigose. |
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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. |
dull purple or stamineous with purple streaks, oblong-obovoid, ± compressed, 1.8–2 mm, 4–5-nerved, faces glabrate to sparsely strigose; pappi cream or slightly rose-tinged, 3–4 mm. |
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2n | = 32. |
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Symphyotrichum foliaceum |
Symphyotrichum oolentangiense |
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Phenology | Flowering Aug–Oct. | |||||||||||||
Habitat | Open, dry, sandy, loamy, or rocky soils, dry to wet (seasonally drying) prairies, alvars, glades, bluffs, dunes, barrens, open deciduous woods, oak and/or pine savannas | |||||||||||||
Elevation | 50–500 m (200–1600 ft) | |||||||||||||
Distribution |
AK; AZ; CA; CO; ID; MT; NM; NV; OR; UT; WA; WY; AB; BC
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AL; AR; FL; GA; IA; IL; IN; KS; LA; MI; MN; MO; MS; NE; NY; OH; OK; PA; SD; TN; TX; WI; ON; Ky ; Mexico (Coahuila)
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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.) |
A. G. Jones (1989) suggested that Symphyotrichum oolentangiense hybridizes with S. drummondii and S. laeve. Two color morphs, Aster azureus Lindley forma incarnatus Farwell and “forma albidus (the latter not validly published and incorrectly attributed to Steyermark by M. L. Fernald 1950), have been described but are not recognized here. (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. 507. | ||||||||||||
Parent taxa | Asteraceae > tribe Astereae > Symphyotrichum > subg. Symphyotrichum > sect. Occidentales | Asteraceae > tribe Astereae > Symphyotrichum > subg. Symphyotrichum > sect. Symphyotrichum | ||||||||||||
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Subordinate taxa | ||||||||||||||
Synonyms | Aster foliaceus | Aster oolentangiensis, Aster azureus, Aster azureus var. poaceus, Aster azureus var. scabrior, Aster capillaceus, Aster poaceus, Aster vernalis | ||||||||||||
Name authority | (Lindley ex de Candolle) G. L. Nesom: Phytologia 77: 282. (1995) | (Riddell) G. L. Nesom: Phytologia 77: 288. (1995) | ||||||||||||
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