Symphyotrichum frondosum |
Symphyotrichum cusickii |
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alkali aster, leafy annual American-aster, short-ray alkali aster, short-ray aster |
Cusick's American aster, Cusick's aster |
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Habit | Annuals or sometimes perennials, 5–140 cm. | Perennials, 40–100 cm, colonial or cespitose; long-rhizomatous. |
Stems | 1–6+, decumbent to erect (straight), glabrous. |
1–5+, ascending to erect, glabrous or puberulent. |
Leaves | thin, margins entire (basal sometimes serrulate), sometimes ciliate or remotely scabrous, acute to ± obtuse, faces glabrous; basal withering by flowering, petiolate, blades oblanceolate to spatulate, 20–115 × 2–15 mm [cult.], bases attenuate; proximal cauline withering by flowering; cauline subpetiolate or sessile (distal), blades oblanceolate to linear, 10–80 × 1.5–10 mm, reduced distally, bases cuneate. |
thin, margins entire, apices acute, faces glabrous or puberulent; basal often withering by flowering, petiolate, blades broadly elliptic to obovate, 5–200 × 10–35 mm, attenuate or cuneate, margins entire, apices acute; proximalmost cauline sometimes withering by flowering, sessile, blades oblanceolate to obovate, 70–120 × 15–50 mm, bases strongly clasping, enlarged and usually narrowed distally, usually prominently auriculate, margins entire, apices acute; distal sessile, blades lanceolate to broadly elliptic, 30–110 × 10–30 mm, bases truncate or auriculate, margins entire. |
Peduncles | glabrous, bracts linear. |
sparsely to densely cinereous, bracts lanceolate. |
Involucres | narrowly campanulate, 5–9 mm. |
campanulate, 10–20 mm. |
Ray florets | 90–110 in 4–5+ series; corollas pink to pinkish white, laminae 1.5–2 × 0.1–0.2 mm (surpassing style branches, barely surpassing disc corollas; tubes ± 3 mm). |
25–55; corollas violet, laminae 10–18 × 1–2 mm. |
Disc florets | ± 37; corollas yellow, 4.4–5.2 mm, barely ampliate, tubes much longer than cylindric limbs, lobes lanceolate, ± 0.3 mm. |
60–150+; corollas yellow, 2.5–4 mm, lobes triangular, 0.4–0.5 mm. |
Phyllaries | in 3–4 series, ± spreading, oblong-oblanceolate or -lanceolate to obovate, subequal to ± unequal, linear-lanceolate or linear (innermost), bases scarious, margins narrowly scarious, hyaline, erose, ciliolate, green zones (outer) foliaceous, (inner) lanceolate, apices obtuse to rounded, inner acute, mucronulate, faces glabrous. |
in 4–5 series, broadly to narrowly lanceolate or oblanceolate (outer) to linear (inner), ± equal or outer slightly exceeding inner, bases outer foliaceous, inner scarious, margins scarious, entire or erose, green zones elliptic to lanceolate, apices acute, faces glabrous or finely hairy. |
Heads | (radiate) in narrow, paniculiform to spiciform arrays, branches often in axils of nearly every leaf, ascending. |
borne singly or in often congested, paniculiform arrays, branches 20–30 cm. |
Cypselae | tan, obovoid, ± compressed, 2 mm, 2–3-nerved, faces strigillose; pappi white to yellowish, 6.3–7.5 mm. |
brown, cylindric to obovoid, not compressed, 3–3.5 mm, 3–6-nerved, faces hairy; pappi white, 5–9(–11) mm. |
2n | = 14. |
= 16, 32. |
Symphyotrichum frondosum |
Symphyotrichum cusickii |
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Phenology | Flowering Aug–Oct. | Flowering Jul–Aug. |
Habitat | Moist, usually saline soils, summer-receding shores of lakes or ponds, vernally moist, alkaline bottoms, marshes, often in steppes | Damp meadows in dry forests, often near springs and streams |
Elevation | 10–2200 m (0–7200 ft) | 1000–1500 m (3300–4900 ft) |
Distribution |
AZ; CA; CO; ID; NM; NV; OR; UT; WA; WY; BC; Mexico (Baja California)
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ID; MT; OR; WA; AB
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Discussion | Symphyotrichum cusickii occurs principally in north-eastern Oregon, north-central Idaho, and adjacent western Montana. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Source | FNA vol. 20, p. 499. | FNA vol. 20, p. 532. |
Parent taxa | Asteraceae > tribe Astereae > Symphyotrichum > subg. Symphyotrichum > sect. Conyzopsis | Asteraceae > tribe Astereae > Symphyotrichum > subg. Symphyotrichum > sect. Occidentales |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Tripolium frondosum, Aster frondosus, Brachyactis frondosa | Aster cusickii, Aster foliaceus var. cusickii |
Name authority | (Nuttall) G. L. Nesom: Phytologia 77: 282. (1995) | (A. Gray) G. L. Nesom: Phytologia 77: 278. (1995) |
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