Flora of North America species comparison

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Symphyotrichum laeve var. geyeri

Symphyotrichum subg. Symphyotrichum
Photo is of parent taxon

Geyer's aster, Geyer's smooth aster, smooth aster, smooth blue aster
Habit Annuals or perennials, eglandular; usually rhizomatous, sometimes taprooted.
Stems

usually not brittle at maturity, usually proximally glabrous or glabrate and distally hairy in lines, sometimes ± uniformly hairy, sometimes glabrous distally.
Leaves

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

basal usually withering by flowering, usually petiolate, sometimes sessile or subsessile, blades 1-nerved, spatulate to oblanceolate, elliptic, or ovate to cordate, margins coarsely serrate to crenate or entire;

cauline petiolate or sessile, blades widely ovate to linear, bases cordate or subcordate, rounded, cuneate, or attenuate, sometimes auriculate and ± clasping.
Disc corollas

± ampliate, throats usually ± narrowly funnelform, sometimes cylindric or funnelform-campanulate, lobes usually erect, sometimes spreading, recurved, or reflexed.
Phyllaries

unequal, apical green zones lanceolate.

strongly unequal to subequal, outer sometimes ± foliaceous, green zones usually diamond-shaped to lanceolate, apices sometimes foliaceous.
Heads

radiate or disciform.
Cypselae

cylindric to obovoid or oblong, sometimes ± compressed, 2–6-nerved, glabrous or ± strigillose.
Ray

(or pistillate) florets usually (6–)7–50(–60) in 1 series and laminae (3–)5–18(–21) × 0.8–2.8 mm, sometimes 14–110+ in 2–5+ series (sect. Conyzopsis) and laminae 4.5–5 × 0.1–0.2 mm or reduced to tubes.
x

= 7, 8.
2n

= 48.

Symphyotrichum laeve var. geyeri

Symphyotrichum subg. Symphyotrichum
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]
North America; Mexico; Eurasia
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.)

Species ca. 58 (51 in the flora).

Subgenus Symphyotrichum has been divided into three sections: sect. Conyzopsis (x = 7), sect. Symphyotrichum (including sect. Turbinelli) (x = 8), and sect. Occidentales (x = 8). Relationships among sections remain unresolved, and it is uncertain whether sect. Symphyotrichum, for instance, is monophyletic as defined here or elsewhere (e.g., G. L. Nesom 1994b).

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 20, p. 509. FNA vol. 20, p. 498.
Parent taxa Asteraceae > tribe Astereae > Symphyotrichum > subg. Symphyotrichum > sect. Symphyotrichum > Symphyotrichum laeve Asteraceae > tribe Astereae > Symphyotrichum
Sibling taxa
S. laeve var. concinnum, S. laeve var. laeve, S. laeve var. purpuratum
Subordinate taxa
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) unknown
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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