Symphyotrichum pilosum |
Symphyotrichum defoliatum |
|||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
aster poilu, awl American-aster, frost aster, hairy aster, hairy white Oldfield aster, Oldfield or frost weed or white Oldfield or hairy or hairy white Oldfield aster, white heath aster |
San Bernardino aster |
|||||
Habit | Perennials cespitose, (5–)20–120(–150+) cm; with stout, branched caudices, sometimes long-rhizomatous. | Perennials, (30–)40–100(–150) cm, cespitose; short-rhizomatous. | ||||
Stems | 1–5+, ascending to erect (straight, stout), glabrate to hirsuto-hispid or pilose, sometimes glabrous or hairy in lines (var. pringlei). |
1–5+, ascending to erect, strigose, villous, or lanate, especially distally. |
||||
Leaves | thin, margins ciliate, apices acute to acuminate, mucronate, faces glabrous or ± hirsute (particularly on abaxial midveins); basal withering by flowering (new vernal rosettes developing at flowering), petiolate to subpetiolate (petioles winged, ciliate, bases sheathing), blades oblanceolate or obovate to spatulate, 10–60 × 5–15 mm, bases attenuate, margins sparsely crenate-serrate (mostly apically), apices obtuse to rounded; proximal cauline usually deciduous at flowering (often with axillary clusters of small leaves), petiolate or subpetiolate to subsessile (petioles narrowly to broadly winged, clasping), blades elliptic-oblanceolate or -oblong to linear-lanceolate or -oblanceolate, 40–102 × 5–25 mm, progressively reduced distally, bases attenuate to cuneate, ± clasping, margins entire to serrate, softly ciliate, apices attenuate, hyaline-spinulose; distal sessile, blades lance-oblong to linear-lanceolate to linear or linear-oblanceolate or linear-subulate, 10–100 × 1–8 mm, progressively reduced distally, branch leaves abruptly smaller, bases cuneate, margins entire or serrulate. |
(grayish green) thin to firm, margins entire, apices acute, faces strigose; basal withering by flowering, petiolate, blades narrowly oblanceolate, 50–100(–150) × 4–12(–15) mm, bases attenuate, margins scabrous to ciliate; proximalmost cauline often withering by flowering (often with tufts of leaves in axils), sessile, blades linear to narrowly oblong, 30–70(–100) × 4–8(–10) mm, bases attenuate or cuneate, apices acute; distal sessile, blades 15–80 × 2–8(–10) mm, bases cuneate, sometimes auriculate. |
||||
Peduncles | 5–30(–50) mm, progressively shorter distally, glabrous or densely hispid, bracts 7–25+, appressed to ascending, sometimes ± spreading, linear to subulate, glabrate, ciliate or not, mucronate to apiculate, ± grading into phyllaries. |
densely short-strigose, bracts 1–6, linear-oblong, strigose. |
||||
Involucres | campanulate to cylindro-campanulate, (2.5–)3.5–5.1(–6.5) mm. |
campanulate, 4–7 mm. |
||||
Ray florets | (10–)16–28(–38); corollas usually white, rarely pinkish or bluish, laminae (4–)5.4–7.5(–11) × (0.4–)0.8–1.3(–1.7) mm. |
15–40; corollas pale violet, laminae 8–12(–15) × 1–1.5(–2) mm. |
||||
Disc florets | (13–)17–39(–67); corollas light yellow becoming reddish purple or brown, (2.5–)3–4.1(–5.5) mm, tubes much shorter than narrowly funnelform throats, lobes lanceolate, (0.4–)0.6–0.8(–1) mm. |
25–70+; corollas yellow, 4–6 mm, lobes triangular, 0.4–0.8 mm. |
||||
Phyllaries | in 4–6 series, appressed or slightly spreading, oblong-lanceolate (outer) to linear (innermost) , unequal (rarely subequal), bases indurate 1/2–3/5, margins hyaline, scarious, erose, ± ciliolate distally, green zones lanceolate to lance-rhombic, apices acute or acuminate, involute, spinulose, faces glabrous or sparsely hirsutulous. |
in 3–6 series, narrowly oblanceolate or linear (outer) to linear (inner), unequal, bases indurate, margins entire, narrowly scarious, ciliate, green zones obovate to elliptic, apices obtuse, mucronulate, faces usually strigose. |
||||
Heads | in open, leafy, often pyramidal, paniculiform arrays, branches divaricate or branches 10 cm or less ascending, often arched and secund, sometimes racemiform. |
(3–50+) in narrowly paniculiform arrays, branches 2–10(–20) cm. |
||||
Cypselae | whitish or gray, oblong-obovoid, sometimes ± compressed, 1–1.5 × 0.5–0.7 mm, 4–6-nerved, faces sparsely strigillose; pappi white, 3.5–4 mm. |
brown, cylindric to obovoid, not compressed, 1.5–3 mm, ribs 5–8, faces hairy; pappi whitish, 4–6 mm. |
||||
2n | = 36. |
|||||
Symphyotrichum pilosum |
Symphyotrichum defoliatum |
|||||
Phenology | Flowering Aug–Nov. | |||||
Habitat | Dry open grasslands and meadows, often near springs | |||||
Elevation | 0–1700 m (0–5600 ft) | |||||
Distribution |
AL; AR; CT; DC; DE; FL; GA; IA; IL; IN; KS; KY; MA; MD; ME; MI; MN; MO; MS; NC; NE; NH; NJ; NY; OH; OK; PA; RI; SC; SD; TN; VA; VT; WI; WV; BC; NB; NS; ON; QC
|
CA
|
||||
Discussion | Varieties 2 (2 in the flora). The ecology and cytogeography of Symphyotrichum pilosum were summarized by J. G. Chmielewski and J. C. Semple (2001b). The species is often confused with S. ericoides, which inhabits the same kinds of open, prairie-like habitats; the latter can be distinguished by its smaller heads and spine-tipped phyllary apices. Because of that, the name Aster ericoides has been misapplied often in floras and in the horticultural trade. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Of conservation concern. Symphyotrichum defoliatum is known from the San Gabriel and San Bernardino mountains, and from the Peninsular Ranges, southern California. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
||||
Key |
|
|||||
Source | FNA vol. 20, p. 511. | FNA vol. 20, p. 538. | ||||
Parent taxa | Asteraceae > tribe Astereae > Symphyotrichum > subg. Symphyotrichum > sect. Symphyotrichum | Asteraceae > tribe Astereae > Symphyotrichum > subg. Ascendentes | ||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||
Synonyms | Aster pilosus, Aster ericoides var. pilosus | Aster defoliatus, Aster bernardinus, Aster chilensis var. bernardinus | ||||
Name authority | (Willdenow) G. L. Nesom: Phytologia 77: 289. (1995) | (Parish) G. L. Nesom: Phytologia 77: 279. (1995) | ||||
Web links |
|