Symphyotrichum spathulatum |
Symphyotrichum turbinellum |
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western aster, western mountain aster |
prairie aster, smooth violet prairie aster, turbinate aster |
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Habit | Perennials, 20–80 cm, colonial; long-rhizomatous. | Perennials, 30–100 cm, cespitose; with thick, branched, woody caudices. | ||||||||
Stems | 1–5+, ascending to erect, glabrous or sparsely puberulent. |
1–5+, erect, straight (stout, brittle), glabrous or sparsely hirtellous in lines. |
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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. |
(paler green or bluish green abaxially) firm, margins scabrous, apices mucronate, faces glabrous, abaxial raised midribs scabrous to glabrate; basal withering by flowering, subpetiolate to shortly petiolate (petioles winged, sheathing, coarsely ciliate), blades oblanceolate to oblong-oblanceolate, 45–65 × 5–8 mm, bases cuneate, margins shallowly crenate, strigoso-ciliate, apices acute, obtuse or rounded; proximal cauline withering by flowering, subpetiolate or sessile, blades elliptic-lanceolate to linear-oblanceolate or -lanceolate, 40–120 × 5–20 mm, reduced distally, bases cuneate to slightly attenuate or rounded, slightly clasping, margins serrulate-crenate or entire, apices acute to acuminate; distal sessile, blades oblanceolate or elliptic-lanceolate to linear-lanceolate or linear-oblong, (10–)15–100 × 1–5 mm, gradually reduced distally (more strongly so on branches), bases cuneate or rounded, margins entire, apices acuminate. |
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Peduncles | sparsely hairy, bracts 0–3+. |
long, thin, (1–)4–10(–25) cm, branches to 10 cm, bracts 8–15, regularly spaced but becoming crowded distally, appressed or ascending, linear-oblong to subulate, 1.5–4 mm, grading into phyllaries, mucronulate. |
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Involucres | campanulate, 5–10 mm. |
turbinate to cylindro-campanulate, 7–12 mm. |
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Ray florets | 15–40; corollas violet, laminae 9–15 × 1–2 mm. |
14–20; corollas light blue to lavender or purple, laminae 12–20 × (1–)1.5–2.8 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. |
15–20+; corollas yellow turning purple, (4.5–)5–7 mm, tubes slightly shorter than narrowly funnelform throats, lobes triangular, 0.5–1 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 6–9 series, appressed or ± spreading, shortly oblong-lanceolate to subulate (outer) to linear-oblong or linear (inner), strongly unequal, bases indurate 1/2–5/6, abaxially rounded, margins scarious, erose, hyaline, sparsely ciliolate distally, green zones oblanceolate to rhombic-oblanceolate, in distal 1/6–1/2, apices acute (outer) to obtuse or rounded (inner), often callous-mucronulate, faces glabrous. |
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Heads | in corymbiform to paniculiform arrays, branches usually few. |
in open, broad, much ramified, paniculiform arrays, branches ascending to arching, thin, brittle, remotely leafy, rarely sessile. |
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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. |
yellow-tan or light brown to gray, obovoid, ± compressed, (1.8–)2–2.8 mm, 2–4-nerved, faces minutely strigillose; pappi whitish to reddish brown, 4.5–6.4 mm. |
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2n | = 96. |
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Symphyotrichum spathulatum |
Symphyotrichum turbinellum |
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Phenology | Flowering Aug–Oct. | |||||||||
Habitat | Open, dry, acidic (chert, sandstone, or granite), rocky or loamy soils, woods and glades on upland slopes and ridges in soils associated with or on leached soils above bluffs, pastures, roadsides | |||||||||
Elevation | 60–900 m (200–3000 ft) | |||||||||
Distribution |
CA; CO; ID; MT; NM; NV; OR; UT; WA; WY; AB; BC; NT; nw Mexico
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AR; IA; IL; KS; LA; MO; NE; OK
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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.) |
Symphyotrichum turbinellum is mostly Ozarkian. (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. 530. | ||||||||
Parent taxa | Asteraceae > tribe Astereae > Symphyotrichum > subg. Symphyotrichum > sect. Occidentales | Asteraceae > tribe Astereae > Symphyotrichum > subg. Symphyotrichum > sect. Symphyotrichum | ||||||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||||||
Synonyms | Aster spathulatus | Aster turbinellus | ||||||||
Name authority | (Lindley) G. L. Nesom: Phytologia 77: 291. (1995) | (Lindley) G. L. Nesom: Phytologia 77: 293. (1995) | ||||||||
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