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Photo is of parent taxon

Geyer's aster, Geyer's smooth aster, smooth aster, smooth blue aster

Leaves

lanceolate to ovate, conspicuously auriculate-clasping, less than 5 times as long as wide.

Phyllaries

unequal, apical green zones lanceolate.

2n

= 48.

Symphyotrichum laeve var. geyeri

Phenology Flowering (Jul–)Aug–Oct.
Habitat Open, dry habitats, mixed- and tallgrass prairies, open pine forests, montane meadows, edges of aspen groves, edges of montane forests, clearings, roadsides
Elevation 300–2400 m (1000–7900 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
CA; CO; ID; MT; ND; NE; NM; SD; TX; UT; WA; WY; AB; BC; MB; ON; SK; YT; Nev ; Mexico (Coahuila)
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

The distribution of var. geyeri forms a continuous arc across the Canadian mixed-grass prairies and aspen parkland into the Northern Rockies, and south in a discontinuous manner in the Central Rockies and the Black Hills, to Guadalupe Peak, western Texas. It is disjunct in northern Coahuila, Mexico (G. L. Nesom 1993g). The species was recently reported for California (tentatively assigned to this variety), where possibly it has been introduced.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Source FNA vol. 20, p. 509.
Parent taxa Asteraceae > tribe Astereae > Symphyotrichum > subg. Symphyotrichum > sect. Symphyotrichum > Symphyotrichum laeve
Sibling taxa
S. laeve var. concinnum, S. laeve var. laeve, S. laeve var. purpuratum
Synonyms Aster laevis var. geyeri, Aster geyeri, Aster laevis subsp. geyeri, Aster laevis var. guadalupensis
Name authority (A. Gray) G. L. Nesom: Phytologia 77: 284. (1995)
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