Flora of North America species comparison

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Symphyotrichum plumosum
Habit Perennials, 40–100 cm, cespitose, eglandular; with cormoid, woody caudices.
Stems

5–10+, erect or arching (light to dark brown), proximally sparsely to moderately finely woolly-pilose (hairs spreading to ascending), more densely so distally.
Leaves

(grayish) soft;

basal withering by flowering, sessile, blades (1–3-nerved) elliptic-lanceolate, 20–40 × 10–20 mm, bases attenuate, margins usually entire, rarely remotely serrate, piloso-ciliate, apices acute to obtuse, faces silvery piloso-silky;

proximal cauline withering by flowering, sessile, blades oblanceolate, 20–30 × 4–8 mm, bases rounded, subclasping, margins entire, scabrous to silky-piloso-ciliate, apices acute to obtuse, cuspidate-mucronate, faces moderately strigillose;

distal sessile, blades lanceolate to narrowly ovate, 8–15 × 2.5–5 mm, reduced distally, bases cuneate, margins entire, apices acute, mucronate, faces moderately, finely lanoso-strigose.
Peduncles

densely hairy, bracts linear, grading into phyllaries.
Involucres

campanulate, 7–9 mm.
Ray florets

7–12;

corollas rose-purple, laminae 6–9 × 1–2 mm.
Disc florets

14–20;

corollas pink turning purple, 5–6 mm, tubes shorter than narrowly funnelform throats (thinly puberulent), lobes triangular, 0.3–0.5 mm.
Phyllaries

in 3–4 series, spreading to reflexed, linear, unequal, bases (tan) ± indurate, margins scarious proximally, green distally, green zones foliaceous, apices acute, faces moderately woolly-strigose.
Heads

radiate, in narrow, paniculiform (wand-shaped) to sometimes compact, racemiform arrays (1(–3) per branch).
Cypselae

fusiform-obovoid, not compressed, 2–3 mm, 6–8-nerved, faces densely strigose;

pappi tan to yellowish tan, (5.5–)6.5–8 mm.
2n

= 8.

Symphyotrichum plumosum
Phenology Flowering Oct–Nov.
Habitat Deep, dry to moist, sandy soils, pine flatwoods, pine-scrub oak woods, favored by fires and clearcuts
Elevation 0–40 m (0–100 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
FL
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Symphyotrichum plumosum is known only from Franklin County. It differs from S. concolor var. concolor in its long-acuminate, recurved to reflexed phyllaries. No intermediates with S. concolor were seen in the field.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 20, p. 493.
Parent taxa Asteraceae > tribe Astereae > Symphyotrichum > subg. Virgulus
Sibling taxa
S. adnatum, S. anomalum, S. anticostense, S. ascendens, S. boreale, S. bracteolatum, S. campestre, S. chapmanii, S. chilense, S. ciliatum, S. ciliolatum, S. concolor, S. cordifolium, S. cusickii, S. defoliatum, S. depauperatum, S. drummondii, S. dumosum, S. elliottii, S. ericoides, S. eulae, S. falcatum, S. fendleri, S. firmum, S. foliaceum, S. fontinale, S. frondosum, S. georgianum, S. grandiflorum, S. greatae, S. hallii, S. hendersonii, S. jessicae, S. laeve, S. lanceolatum, S. lateriflorum, S. laurentianum, S. lentum, S. molle, S. nahanniense, S. novae-angliae, S. novi-belgii, S. oblongifolium, S. ontarionis, S. oolentangiense, S. parviceps, S. patens, S. phlogifolium, S. pilosum, S. porteri, S. potosinum, S. praealtum, S. pratense, S. prenanthoides, S. priceae, S. puniceum, S. pygmaeum, S. racemosum, S. retroflexum, S. rhiannon, S. robynsianum, S. sericeum, S. shortii, S. simmondsii, S. spathulatum, S. subspicatum, S. subulatum, S. tenuifolium, S. tradescantii, S. turbinellum, S. undulatum, S. urophyllum, S. walteri, S. welshii, S. yukonense, S. ×amethystinum
Synonyms Aster plumosus, S. concolor var. plumosum
Name authority (Small) Semple: in J. C. Semple et al., Cult. Native Asters Ontario, 134. (2002)
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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