Symphyotrichum lanceolatum |
Symphyotrichum parviceps |
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aster lancéolé, lance-leaf American-aster, lance-leaf aster, lance-leaf or panicle or white panicle aster, marsh aster, panicle aster, tall white aster, western willow aster, white-panicle aster |
smallhead aster, smallhead or small white aster |
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Habit | Perennials, 30–150(–200) cm, colonial; long-rhizomatous (rhizomes usually white, thick, contorted). | Perennials (sometimes short-lived), 30–100 cm, colonial or cespitose; long-rhizomatous or with short, branched caudices. | ||||||||||||||||
Stems | 1, erect (straight, stout), glabrous or hairy. |
1–3+, ascending to erect (straight, slender, reddish), sparsely to densely pilosulous to hirtellous, proximally glabrescent. |
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Leaves | thin, scabrous, apices mucronate, abaxial faces glabrous (vein areoles indistinct, elongate), adaxial glabrous or sparsely scabrous (var. hesperium); basal withering by flowering, petiolate to subpetiolate (petioles winged, ciliate, bases dilated, sheathing), blades elliptic-oblanceolate or obovate to suborbiculate, 10–80 × 5–20 mm, cuneate to attenuate, margins crenate-serrate, apices acute to obtuse or rounded; proximal cauline withering by flowering, sessile or subsessile, blades lance-ovate or oblanceolate to linear-lanceolate, (40–)50–150 × (3–)10–20(–35) mm, progressively reduced distally, bases cuneate, ± decurrent, margins serrate, apices acute to acuminate; distal sessile, blades oblanceolate to linear, 30–100(–140) mm, only slightly reduced distally, bases cuneate, margins entire. |
thin, margins strigoso-ciliate to scabrous, apices mucronulate, abaxial faces glabrate to sparsely pilose and midveins ± pilose to glabrate, adaxial glabrous or glabrate to pilosulous or hirsutulous; basal withering by flowering, subpetiolate, blades oblanceolate to narrowly oblanceolate or spatulate, 10–40 × 3–7 mm, bases cuneate, sheathing, margins sparsely serrate apically, apices obtuse, mucronate, faces sparsely pilose; proximal cauline usually withering by flowering, sessile or subsessile (often with axillary clusters of small leaves), blades oblanceolate to lanceolate, 40–80 × 2–5 mm, bases cuneate, margins entire or serrulate apically; distal sessile, blades linear to subulate, 4–100 × 1–6 mm, reduced distally, bases cuneate, margins entire to weakly serrulate, faces glabrate or glabrous. |
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Peduncles | 0.5–5 cm, ± pilose, bracts 1–3(–5), linear-oblanceolate to -lanceolate, foliaceous, ciliate. |
3–20(–40) mm, glabrate or glabrous, bracts 3–6+, appressed or ascending, linear to subulate, 2–4 mm, scabrous, aristate, glabrous, grading into phyllaries. |
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Involucres | campanulate to cylindric, 3–8 mm. |
cylindric to cylindro-campanulate, (2.7–)3.1–4.1(–4.9) × ± 3 mm. |
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Ray florets | 16–50; corollas white to pinkish or pale blue-violet, laminae 3–10(–14) × 0.5–1.3 mm. |
(9–)11–17(–23); corollas usually white, seldom pink, laminae (3.7–)5–5.5(–7.3) × 0.6–1.3 mm. |
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Disc florets | (13–)20–40(–52); corollas yellow becoming purple, 2.8–5.8 mm, tubes shorter than funnelform throats, lobes sometimes ± spreading, triangular, 0.4–1.2 mm. |
5–16(–28); corollas pale yellow becoming purplish, (2.3–)2.5–3.3(–3.7) mm, tubes shorter than narrowly funnelform throats, lobes lanceolate, 0.4–0.8 (ratio 0.25) mm. |
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Phyllaries | in (3–)4–6 series, appressed or slightly spreading, linear-lanceolate to linear (innermost), sometimes slightly dilated distally, ± strongly unequal to subequal (var. hesperium), bases indurate 1/4–1/2, margins scarious, erose, hyaline, sparsely ciliolate, green zones lanceolate to linear-lanceolate, outer sometimes foliaceous (particularly var. hesperium), apices acute to acuminate (outer) or acuminate to caudate (inner), mostly mucronulate, abaxial faces glabrous, adaxial sparsely strigillose. |
in 3–5 series, appressed, subulate (outermost) to oblong-lanceolate to linear-lanceolate (inner) or linear (innermost), unequal, bases indurate 1/2–3/4, margins scarious, erose, hyaline, sparsely ciliolate or not, green zones lanceolate, apices slightly spreading, often purplish, often involute, acute to acuminate or cuspidate, sometimes aristate, faces usually glabrous, sometimes glabrate. |
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Heads | in ample or diffuse to narrow, elongate, leafy, paniculiform arrays, branches ± ascending, rarely secund, branch leaves often longer than pedicels. |
in narrow or wide, pyramidal, paniculiform arrays, branches ascending or arching, secondary branches (10 cm or less) secund and erect, densely leafy, heads crowded, sparsely to moderately pilose. |
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Cypselae | gray or tan, obovoid, ± compressed, 1.5–2 mm, 4–5-nerved, faces sparsely strigillose; pappi white to sordid or tawny, 5.5–6 mm. |
whitish or gray, obovoid, compressed, 0.8–1.5 × 0.4–0.6 mm, 3–4-nerved, faces sparsely to moderately strigillose; pappi white, 3–4 mm. |
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2n | = 16, 32, 48. |
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Symphyotrichum lanceolatum |
Symphyotrichum parviceps |
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Phenology | Flowering Aug–Oct. | |||||||||||||||||
Habitat | Open, dry, sandy, or loamy soils, open woods, barrens, prairies, fields, roadsides, old cemeteries | |||||||||||||||||
Elevation | 200–400 m (700–1300 ft) | |||||||||||||||||
Distribution |
AL; AR; AZ; CA; CO; CT; DC; FL; GA; IA; ID; IL; IN; KS; KY; LA; MA; MD; ME; MI; MN; MO; MS; MT; NC; ND; NE; NH; NJ; NM; NV; NY; OH; OK; OR; PA; RI; SC; SD; TN; TX; UT; VA; VT; WA; WI; WV; WY; AB; BC; MB; NB; NF; NS; NT; ON; PE; QC; SK [Introduced in Europe]
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AR; IA; IL; KS; MO; OK |
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Discussion | Varieties 5 (5 in the flora). Varieties of Symphyotrichum lanceolatum are sometimes grouped into two subspecies: subsp. hesperium (var. hesperium) and subsp. lanceolatum (the other four varieties). J. C. Semple and J. G. Chmielewski (1987) provided maps of the five taxa. The ranges of var. hesperium and var. lanceolatum overlap in the prairies and in the boreal zone from Alberta to the Clay Belt of northern Ontario. The ranges of the other three varieties do not overlap with that of var. hesperium, but they all overlap each other and with var. lanceolatum in the Midwest. The ecology and cytogeography of the species were summarized by Chmielewski and Semple (2001). The name Aster tradescantii has sometimes been misapplied to this species. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 20. | FNA vol. 20, p. 511. | ||||||||||||||||
Parent taxa | Asteraceae > tribe Astereae > Symphyotrichum > subg. Symphyotrichum > sect. Symphyotrichum | Asteraceae > tribe Astereae > Symphyotrichum > subg. Symphyotrichum > sect. Symphyotrichum | ||||||||||||||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||||||||||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||||||||||||||
Synonyms | Aster lanceolatus | Aster ericoides var. parviceps, Aster parviceps, Aster pilosus subsp. parviceps | ||||||||||||||||
Name authority | (Willdenow) G. L. Nesom: Phytologia 77: 284. (1995) | (E. S. Burgess) G. L. Nesom: Phytologia 77: 288. (1995) | ||||||||||||||||
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