Symphyotrichum foliaceum |
Symphyotrichum parviceps |
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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 |
smallhead aster, smallhead or small white aster |
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Habit | Perennials 10–60 cm, colonial; long-rhizomatous. | Perennials (sometimes short-lived), 30–100 cm, colonial or cespitose; long-rhizomatous or with short, branched caudices. | ||||||||||||
Stems | 1–5+, ascending to erect, glabrous or sparsely puberulent. |
1–3+, ascending to erect (straight, slender, reddish), sparsely to densely pilosulous to hirtellous, proximally glabrescent. |
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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. |
thin, margins strigoso-ciliate to scabrous, apices mucronulate, abaxial faces glabrate to sparsely pilose and midveins ± pilose to glabrate, adaxial glabrous or glabrate to pilosulous or hirsutulous; basal withering by flowering, subpetiolate, blades oblanceolate to narrowly oblanceolate or spatulate, 10–40 × 3–7 mm, bases cuneate, sheathing, margins sparsely serrate apically, apices obtuse, mucronate, faces sparsely pilose; proximal cauline usually withering by flowering, sessile or subsessile (often with axillary clusters of small leaves), blades oblanceolate to lanceolate, 40–80 × 2–5 mm, bases cuneate, margins entire or serrulate apically; distal sessile, blades linear to subulate, 4–100 × 1–6 mm, reduced distally, bases cuneate, margins entire to weakly serrulate, faces glabrate or glabrous. |
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Peduncles | sparsely hairy, bracts 0–3, lanceolate. |
3–20(–40) mm, glabrate or glabrous, bracts 3–6+, appressed or ascending, linear to subulate, 2–4 mm, scabrous, aristate, glabrous, grading into phyllaries. |
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Involucres | campanulate, 6–16(–20) mm. |
cylindric to cylindro-campanulate, (2.7–)3.1–4.1(–4.9) × ± 3 mm. |
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Ray florets | 15–60; corollas violet to purple, laminae 8–18(–20) × 1–2 mm. |
(9–)11–17(–23); corollas usually white, seldom pink, laminae (3.7–)5–5.5(–7.3) × 0.6–1.3 mm. |
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Disc florets | 50–150; corollas yellow, 4–7 mm, lobes triangular, 0.4–1 mm. |
5–16(–28); corollas pale yellow becoming purplish, (2.3–)2.5–3.3(–3.7) mm, tubes shorter than narrowly funnelform throats, lobes lanceolate, 0.4–0.8 (ratio 0.25) 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 3–5 series, appressed, subulate (outermost) to oblong-lanceolate to linear-lanceolate (inner) or linear (innermost), unequal, bases indurate 1/2–3/4, margins scarious, erose, hyaline, sparsely ciliolate or not, green zones lanceolate, apices slightly spreading, often purplish, often involute, acute to acuminate or cuspidate, sometimes aristate, faces usually glabrous, sometimes glabrate. |
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Heads | borne singly or in paniculiform arrays, branches ascending, up to 25 cm. |
in narrow or wide, pyramidal, paniculiform arrays, branches ascending or arching, secondary branches (10 cm or less) secund and erect, densely leafy, heads crowded, sparsely to moderately pilose. |
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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. |
whitish or gray, obovoid, compressed, 0.8–1.5 × 0.4–0.6 mm, 3–4-nerved, faces sparsely to moderately strigillose; pappi white, 3–4 mm. |
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2n | = 16, 32, 48. |
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Symphyotrichum foliaceum |
Symphyotrichum parviceps |
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Phenology | Flowering Aug–Oct. | |||||||||||||
Habitat | Open, dry, sandy, or loamy soils, open woods, barrens, prairies, fields, roadsides, old cemeteries | |||||||||||||
Elevation | 200–400 m (700–1300 ft) | |||||||||||||
Distribution |
AK; AZ; CA; CO; ID; MT; NM; NV; OR; UT; WA; WY; AB; BC
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AR; IA; IL; KS; MO; OK |
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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.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 20, p. 532. | FNA vol. 20, p. 511. | ||||||||||||
Parent taxa | Asteraceae > tribe Astereae > Symphyotrichum > subg. Symphyotrichum > sect. Occidentales | Asteraceae > tribe Astereae > Symphyotrichum > subg. Symphyotrichum > sect. Symphyotrichum | ||||||||||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||||||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||||||||||
Synonyms | Aster foliaceus | Aster ericoides var. parviceps, Aster parviceps, Aster pilosus subsp. parviceps | ||||||||||||
Name authority | (Lindley ex de Candolle) G. L. Nesom: Phytologia 77: 282. (1995) | (E. S. Burgess) G. L. Nesom: Phytologia 77: 288. (1995) | ||||||||||||
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