Symphyotrichum foliaceum |
Symphyotrichum ×amethystinum |
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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 |
amethyst aster, aster, hybrid aster |
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Habit | Perennials 10–60 cm, colonial; long-rhizomatous. | Perennials, cespitose, 30–120 cm; with thick, woody, short-branched caudices at ends of fleshy rhizomes. | ||||||||||||
Stems | 1–5+, ascending to erect, glabrous or sparsely puberulent. |
1–5+, erect (light brown to grayish brown), densely hispidulo-hirsute. |
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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. |
light green, thin to firm; basal withering by flowering, sessile, blades oblanceolate, 10–40 × 3–10 mm, attenuate, margins usually entire, rarely remotely serrate, piloso-ciliate, apices obtuse, rounded to mucronulate, faces sparsely to moderately strigose; proximal cauline sometimes persistent by flowering, sessile, blades linear or oblong to elliptic-oblanceolate, 40–60 × 3–10 mm, bases rounded or slightly clasping, margins entire, scabrous, apices acute to obtuse, faces ± copiously hirsute; distal sessile, blades oblanceolate, 15–45 × 2–3(–4.5) mm, progressively reduced distally, bases cuneate, margins entire, apices acute, white-spine-tipped, faces sparsely strigose. |
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Peduncles | sparsely hairy, bracts 0–3, lanceolate. |
hispid, bracts 1–3+, oblong-lanceolate, 3–5 mm, not grading into phyllaries. |
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Involucres | campanulate, 6–16(–20) mm. |
campanulate to hemispheric, 4–6 mm. |
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Ray florets | 15–60; corollas violet to purple, laminae 8–18(–20) × 1–2 mm. |
20–35; corollas azure blue to violet or lavender, laminae 5–10 × 0.6–1.2 mm. |
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Disc florets | 50–150; corollas yellow, 4–7 mm, lobes triangular, 0.4–1 mm. |
20–30+; corollas light yellow turning pinkish to purple, 3–4 mm, tubes ca. 1/2 narrowly funnelform throats, lobes triangular, 0.5–0.7 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 3–5 series, linear-lanceolate, ± unequal to subequal, bases ± indurate, margins hyaline proximally, outer distally hispido-scabrous, green zones diamond-shaped, restricted to distal 1/2–1/4, apices (outer) spreading to reflexed, acute, subspinulose, (inner) acuminate, purplish, faces (outer) scabroso-puberulent or strigose, eglandular, inner distally stipitate-glandular. |
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Heads | borne singly or in paniculiform arrays, branches ascending, up to 25 cm. |
in ample, leafy, paniculiform arrays, branches ascending, sometimes secund (heads often 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. |
dull purple or brown, obovoid, not compressed, 1.5–2 mm, 7–9-nerved, faces densely sericeous; pappi tan to tawny, sometimes rose to violet-tinged, 3.5–5.5 mm. |
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2n | = 10. |
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Symphyotrichum foliaceum |
Symphyotrichum ×amethystinum |
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Phenology | Flowering Aug–Oct. | |||||||||||||
Habitat | Fields, prairies, disturbed grounds | |||||||||||||
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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CO; CT; IA; IL; IN; KY; MA; MD; MN; MO; ND; NE; NJ; NY; PA; RI; VT; WA; WI; 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 ×amethystinum is the F1 hybrid between S. ericoides and S. novae-angliae, encountered sometimes throughout the area where the two parental species co-occur. It is morphologically intermediate; it has non-spiny, sparsely stipitate-glandular phyllaries and rose-violet rays in mid-sized heads. Forma leucerythros Bemis and forma leucos Bemis have been described within this hybrid and may represent recombinants or normal population color variants. (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. 497. | ||||||||||||
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 amethystinus, Virgulus ×amethystinus | ||||||||||||
Name authority | (Lindley ex de Candolle) G. L. Nesom: Phytologia 77: 282. (1995) | (Nuttall) G. L. Nesom: Phytologia 77: 294. (1995) | ||||||||||||
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