Symphyotrichum frondosum |
Symphyotrichum jessicae |
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alkali aster, leafy annual American-aster, short-ray alkali aster, short-ray aster |
Jessica's aster, Palouse aster |
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Habit | Annuals or sometimes perennials, 5–140 cm. | Perennials, 40–150 cm, colonial; long-rhizomatous. |
Stems | 1–6+, decumbent to erect (straight), glabrous. |
1–5+, ascending to erect, densely puberulent to lanate, especially distally. |
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. |
thickish, margins entire or shallowly crenate, apices acute to ± obtuse, faces densely lanate-puberulent; basal withering by flowering, petiolate, blades obovate to elliptic, 30–150 × 10–40 mm, bases cuneate to rounded, margins entire, ciliolate, apices acute, faces densely cinereous to lanate; proximalmost cauline sometimes withering by flowering, subpetiolate or sessile, blades obovate-lanceolate to elliptic, 50–100 × 10–25(–35) mm, bases cuneate, clasping, ± auriculate, apices usually acute; distal sessile, blades 20–60(–80) × 9–16(–20) mm, bases rounded to auriculate. |
Peduncles | glabrous, bracts linear. |
densely lanate, bracts 1–8, elliptic, margins ciliolate, apices acute, puberulent. |
Involucres | narrowly campanulate, 5–9 mm. |
campanulate, 6–10 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). |
18–40; corollas violet, laminae (8–)12–20 × 1–2(–2.5) mm. |
Disc florets | ± 37; corollas yellow, 4.4–5.2 mm, barely ampliate, tubes much longer than cylindric limbs, lobes lanceolate, ± 0.3 mm. |
35–80+; corollas yellow, 6–9 mm, lobes triangular, 0.4–1 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 4–6 series, oblanceolate (outer) to linear (inner), unequal, bases scarious (outer sometimes foliaceous), margins slightly scarious, entire, green zones obovate to elliptic, apices acute, faces densely lanate to cinereous. |
Heads | (radiate) in narrow, paniculiform to spiciform arrays, branches often in axils of nearly every leaf, ascending. |
in paniculiform, very leafy arrays, branches 4–10(–20) 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, 3.5–4.5 mm, 4–5-nerved, faces sparsely hairy; pappi tawny, (6–)7–9 mm. |
2n | = 14. |
= 80. |
Symphyotrichum frondosum |
Symphyotrichum jessicae |
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Phenology | Flowering Aug–Oct. | Flowering Aug–Sep. |
Habitat | Moist, usually saline soils, summer-receding shores of lakes or ponds, vernally moist, alkaline bottoms, marshes, often in steppes | Dry grasslands, meadows, stream banks, openings in Ponderosa pine woodlands |
Elevation | 10–2200 m (0–7200 ft) | 500–1200 m (1600–3900 ft) |
Distribution |
AZ; CA; CO; ID; NM; NV; OR; UT; WA; WY; BC; Mexico (Baja California)
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ID; WA
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Discussion | Of conservation concern. Symphyotrichum jessicae is known only from the Palouse and Clearwater river drainages of eastern Washington and adjacent northwestern Idaho. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Source | FNA vol. 20, p. 499. | FNA vol. 20, p. 536. |
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 jessicae |
Name authority | (Nuttall) G. L. Nesom: Phytologia 77: 282. (1995) | (Piper) G. L. Nesom: Phytologia 77: 283. (1995) |
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