Symphyotrichum tenuifolium |
Symphyotrichum ascendens |
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perennial saltmarsh American-aster, perennial saltmarsh aster |
intermountain aster, long-leaf aster, long-leaf or intermountain or western aster, western American aster, western aster |
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Habit | Perennials, (20–)40–60(–100) cm, colonial or cespitose; rhizoma-tous. | Perennials 20–60 cm, colonial; long-rhizomatous. | ||||
Stems | 1–5+, ascending to erect (often with purple or purplish brown areas, flexuous, wiry), little-branched, usually glabrous, sometimes hairy in lines distally. |
1–5+, ascending to erect, densely and uniformly strigose, especially distally. |
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Leaves | thick (fleshy), margins entire, faces glabrous; basal withering by flowering (new winter rosettes appearing at flowering), petiolate (petioles sheathing), blades ovate or oblanceolate, 15–20 × 5–15 mm, bases cuneate, apices rounded; proximal cauline withering by flowering, usually sessile, blades lanceolate, linear-lanceolate or -oblanceolate, to linear, 7–80(–150) × 1–6 (–12) mm, bases attenuate, margins entire, apices acuminate to acute; distal sessile, blades narrowly lanceolate to subulate, 10–110 × 0.5–5 mm, apices acuminate. |
(grayish green) thin to firm, margins entire, apices acute, faces glabrous or strigose; basal usually persistent, petiolate, blades oblanceolate, 50–150 × 5–12(–15) mm, bases attenuate or cuneate, margins entire, apices usually acute; proximal cauline sessile or subpetiolate, blades oblong to narrowly obovate, 50–120 × 5–12 mm, bases attenuate or cuneate; distal sessile, blades 30–70 × 4–10 mm, reduced distally, bases cuneate to ± rounded. |
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Peduncles | 0.6–4 (–6) cm, bracts 2–8, awl-shaped, grading into phyllaries. |
moderately to densely strigose, bracts 1–4, linear to oblanceolate. |
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Involucres | narrowly turbinate, 4.1–9.5(–11) mm. |
campanulate, 4–7 mm. |
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Ray florets | 10–25; corollas white or pink, laminae (4.5–)5–8.5(–9.5) × 1.2–2 mm. |
(10–)15–40; corollas violet, laminae 8–13 × 1–1.5 mm. |
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Disc florets | 25–45(–54); corollas yellow becoming purplish, 3.4–6(–6.8) mm, tubes shorter than to equaling the narrowly funnelform throats (sparsely hairy at base), lobes ± erect, narrowly triangular, 0.5–0.8 mm. |
25–65(–80); corollas yellow, sometimes purple-tinged, 4–6 mm, lobes triangular, 0.4–0.8 mm. |
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Phyllaries | in 4–5 series, lanceolate to subulate, bases indurate, rounded, margins hyaline, often tinged with purple, entire, green zones spatulate to oblanceolate-rhombic, apices acute, adaxial faces glabrous or minutely hairy distally. |
in 3–5 series, narrowly oblanceolate or linear (outer) to linear (inner), unequal, bases indurate, margins entire, green zones obovate to elliptic, apices obtuse, faces densely strigose. |
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Heads | (1–)3–20(–40), in open, diffuse, paniculiform arrays, branches patent. |
in paniculiform arrays, branches ascending. |
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Cypselae | light brown, narrowly obovoid to fusiform, sometimes ± compressed, 1.5–4(–4.5) mm, 5–6-nerved, faces sparsely strigillose; pappi tawny to white, 3–6.1 mm. |
brown, cylindric to obovoid, not compressed, 2–3.5 mm, 3–5-nerved, faces hairy; pappi whitish, 4–7 mm. |
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2n | = 26, 36, 52. |
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Symphyotrichum tenuifolium |
Symphyotrichum ascendens |
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Phenology | Flowering Jul–Aug. | |||||
Habitat | Meadows, grasslands, damp areas in sagebrush steppe and Ponderosa pine woodlands | |||||
Elevation | 500–3200 m (1600–10500 ft) | |||||
Distribution |
AL; CT; DE; FL; GA; LA; MA; MD; ME; MS; NC; NH; NJ; NY; RI; SC; TX; VA; West Indies
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AZ; CA; CO; ID; MT; ND; NM; NV; OR; UT; WA; WY; AB; BC; SK
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Discussion | Varieties 2 (2 in the flora). Along the Gulf of Mexico Coast in central and northern peninsular Florida, vars. tenuifolium and aphyllum intergrade in nearly all characters (S. D. Sundberg 2004). G. L. Nesom (2005d) treated the varieties as species. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Symphyotrichum ascendens is widely distributed in the Great Basin. It is an allopolyploid derived from the hybrid between S. spathulatum (x = 8) and S. falcatum (x = 5). Chromosome numbers differ markedly in their geographic distribution, 2n = 26 prevailing in the southwestern part of the range, and 2n = 52 in the northeastern part (G. A. Allen 1985) Backcrosses to both parental species or hybrids with related taxa are sometimes seen where the ranges overlap. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 20, p. 479. | FNA vol. 20, p. 538. | ||||
Parent taxa | Asteraceae > tribe Astereae > Symphyotrichum > subg. Astropolium | Asteraceae > tribe Astereae > Symphyotrichum > subg. Ascendentes | ||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||
Synonyms | Aster tenuifolius | Aster ascendens, Aster chilensis subsp. ascendens | ||||
Name authority | (Linnaeus) G. L. Nesom: Phytologia 77: 293. (1995) | (Lindley) G. L. Nesom: Phytologia 77: 276. (1995) | ||||
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