Symphyotrichum foliaceum |
Symphyotrichum walteri |
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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 |
Walter's aster |
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Habit | Perennials 10–60 cm, colonial; long-rhizomatous. | Perennials, 20–100 cm, colonial or cespitose, eglandular, sometimes sparsely, minutely stipitate-glandular; long-rhizomatous, with erect, thick, ± cormoid, woody caudices. | ||||||||||||
Stems | 1–5+, ascending to erect, glabrous or sparsely puberulent. |
1–5+, erect to scandent-sprawling (mid to dark brown, branched from middle), glabrous or very sparsely fine strigose. |
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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. |
(bright green) thick, firm, ± succulent, margins entire; basal early deciduous, sessile, blades (3-nerved) oblanceolate to obovate, 10–43 × 7–15 mm, bases cuneate, margins scabrous, apices obtuse, mucronate, faces sparsely finely scabrous; proximal cauline sessile (patent to reflexed), blades ovate to lanceolate, 8–30 × 2–10 mm, bases cordate-clasping, apices acute, sometimes spinulose, faces finely scabrous, shiny; distal sessile, blades lanceolate to triangular, 5–15 × 2.5–3.5 mm, reduced to bracts distally, bases clasping, margins finely scabrous, apices acute, white-spinulose, faces finely scabrous. |
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Peduncles | sparsely hairy, bracts 0–3, lanceolate. |
glabrous, bracts relatively numerous, tiny, foliaceous, becoming minute, linear, glabrous. |
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Involucres | campanulate, 6–16(–20) mm. |
campanulate, 5–7 mm. |
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Ray florets | 15–60; corollas violet to purple, laminae 8–18(–20) × 1–2 mm. |
11–26; corollas bluish purple, laminae 5–9(–11) × 0.5–1 mm. |
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Disc florets | 50–150; corollas yellow, 4–7 mm, lobes triangular, 0.4–1 mm. |
(6–)15–25(–30); corollas yellow, 4–6.5 mm, throats narrowly funnelform, lobes triangular, 0.4–0.8 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, oblanceolate, strongly unequal, bases (tan) ± indurate, margins hyaline, finely scabrous, green zones diamond-shaped, in distal 1/4–1/2, apices obtuse, mucronate to finely subspinulose, innermost acuminate, faces sparsely strigillose (often obscured by thick, shiny cuticle). |
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Heads | borne singly or in paniculiform arrays, branches ascending, up to 25 cm. |
borne singly in diffusely paniculiform arrays, branches initially patent to divaricate, elongate. |
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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. |
tan to brown, obovoid, not compressed, 2–2.5 mm, nerves very faint, faces sparsely to moderately strigose; pappi tan, 4–6 mm. |
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2n | = 20. |
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Symphyotrichum foliaceum |
Symphyotrichum walteri |
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Phenology | Flowering Oct–Dec. | |||||||||||||
Habitat | Sandy, clayey soils, margins of woods, open oak-pine scrub, pine flatwoods, fields, roadsides | |||||||||||||
Elevation | 0–100+ m (0–300+ ft) | |||||||||||||
Distribution |
AK; AZ; CA; CO; ID; MT; NM; NV; OR; UT; WA; WY; AB; BC
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FL; GA; NC; SC
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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. 492. | ||||||||||||
Parent taxa | Asteraceae > tribe Astereae > Symphyotrichum > subg. Symphyotrichum > sect. Occidentales | Asteraceae > tribe Astereae > Symphyotrichum > subg. Virgulus | ||||||||||||
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Subordinate taxa | ||||||||||||||
Synonyms | Aster foliaceus | Aster walteri, Lasallea walteri, Virgulus walteri | ||||||||||||
Name authority | (Lindley ex de Candolle) G. L. Nesom: Phytologia 77: 282. (1995) | (Alexander) G. L. Nesom: Phytologia 77: 294. (1995) | ||||||||||||
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