Symphyotrichum spathulatum |
Symphyotrichum frondosum |
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western aster, western mountain aster |
alkali aster, leafy annual American-aster, short-ray alkali aster, short-ray aster |
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Habit | Perennials, 20–80 cm, colonial; long-rhizomatous. | Annuals or sometimes perennials, 5–140 cm. | ||||||||
Stems | 1–5+, ascending to erect, glabrous or sparsely puberulent. |
1–6+, decumbent to erect (straight), glabrous. |
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Leaves | thin, margins entire, apices acute, faces glabrous or sparsely puberulent; basal persistent, petiolate, blades narrowly elliptic to obovate, 50–150 × 3–15 mm, attenuate, margins entire; proximal cauline sessile or subpetiolate, blades linear to narrowly elliptic, 50–150 × 2–15 mm, bases attenuate or cuneate; distal sessile, blades 30–60 × 2–10 mm, reduced distally, bases cuneate to rounded. |
thin, margins entire (basal sometimes serrulate), sometimes ciliate or remotely scabrous, acute to ± obtuse, faces glabrous; basal withering by flowering, petiolate, blades oblanceolate to spatulate, 20–115 × 2–15 mm [cult.], bases attenuate; proximal cauline withering by flowering; cauline subpetiolate or sessile (distal), blades oblanceolate to linear, 10–80 × 1.5–10 mm, reduced distally, bases cuneate. |
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Peduncles | sparsely hairy, bracts 0–3+. |
glabrous, bracts linear. |
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Involucres | campanulate, 5–10 mm. |
narrowly campanulate, 5–9 mm. |
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Ray florets | 15–40; corollas violet, laminae 9–15 × 1–2 mm. |
90–110 in 4–5+ series; corollas pink to pinkish white, laminae 1.5–2 × 0.1–0.2 mm (surpassing style branches, barely surpassing disc corollas; tubes ± 3 mm). |
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Disc florets | 30-80(–100); corollas yellow, sometimes becoming reddish, 4.5–6 mm, lobes triangular, 0.5–1 mm. |
± 37; corollas yellow, 4.4–5.2 mm, barely ampliate, tubes much longer than cylindric limbs, lobes lanceolate, ± 0.3 mm. |
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Phyllaries | in 3–5 series, narrowly oblong or linear (outer) to linear (inner), unequal, bases indurate, margins entire, green zones elliptic to lanceolate, apices usually acute, sometimes obtuse, faces glabrous or ± puberulent. |
in 3–4 series, ± spreading, oblong-oblanceolate or -lanceolate to obovate, subequal to ± unequal, linear-lanceolate or linear (innermost), bases scarious, margins narrowly scarious, hyaline, erose, ciliolate, green zones (outer) foliaceous, (inner) lanceolate, apices obtuse to rounded, inner acute, mucronulate, faces glabrous. |
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Heads | in corymbiform to paniculiform arrays, branches usually few. |
(radiate) in narrow, paniculiform to spiciform arrays, branches often in axils of nearly every leaf, ascending. |
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Cypselae | brown, cylindric to obovoid, not compressed, 2.5–3.5 mm, ± 4-nerved, faces hairy; pappi whitish, 5–7 mm. |
tan, obovoid, ± compressed, 2 mm, 2–3-nerved, faces strigillose; pappi white to yellowish, 6.3–7.5 mm. |
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2n | = 14. |
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Symphyotrichum spathulatum |
Symphyotrichum frondosum |
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Phenology | Flowering Aug–Oct. | |||||||||
Habitat | Moist, usually saline soils, summer-receding shores of lakes or ponds, vernally moist, alkaline bottoms, marshes, often in steppes | |||||||||
Elevation | 10–2200 m (0–7200 ft) | |||||||||
Distribution |
CA; CO; ID; MT; NM; NV; OR; UT; WA; WY; AB; BC; NT; nw Mexico
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AZ; CA; CO; ID; NM; NV; OR; UT; WA; WY; BC; Mexico (Baja California)
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Discussion | Varieties 3 (3 in the flora). Symphyotrichum spathulatum is a variable species, widespread in montane regions of western North America. It hybridizes with S. bracteolatum, S. foliaceum, and S. hendersonii. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 20, p. 534. | FNA vol. 20, p. 499. | ||||||||
Parent taxa | Asteraceae > tribe Astereae > Symphyotrichum > subg. Symphyotrichum > sect. Occidentales | Asteraceae > tribe Astereae > Symphyotrichum > subg. Symphyotrichum > sect. Conyzopsis | ||||||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||||||
Synonyms | Aster spathulatus | Tripolium frondosum, Aster frondosus, Brachyactis frondosa | ||||||||
Name authority | (Lindley) G. L. Nesom: Phytologia 77: 291. (1995) | (Nuttall) G. L. Nesom: Phytologia 77: 282. (1995) | ||||||||
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