Symphyotrichum tenuifolium |
Symphyotrichum ciliolatum |
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perennial saltmarsh American-aster, perennial saltmarsh aster |
aster ciliolé, fringe blue aster, Lindley's American-aster, Lindley's aster, Lindley's or fringe blue aster |
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Habit | Perennials, (20–)40–60(–100) cm, colonial or cespitose; rhizoma-tous. | Perennials, (10–)20–120 cm, colonial or cespitose; usually long-rhizomatous, sometimes with branched caudices. | ||||
Stems | 1–5+, ascending to erect (often with purple or purplish brown areas, flexuous, wiry), little-branched, usually glabrous, sometimes hairy in lines distally. |
1–3+, erect (straight to ± flexuous), glabrate to sparsely hirsute or strigillose, 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. |
thin, margins coarsely, sharply serrate to crenate-serrate or serrulate, ciliate to scabrous, apices acute or acuminate, mucronulate, abaxial faces glabrate to sparsely hirsute, midveins usually densely hirsute, sometimes glabrous, adaxial glabrous or glabrate to scabrellous; basal usually withering by flowering (sometimes persistent on small plants), long-petiolate (petioles slightly winged, sheathing, ciliate), blades ovate, (24–)40–120(–270) × 15–70 mm, bases usually shallowly cordate, sometimes rounded; proximal cauline often withering by flowering, winged-petiolate, blades ovate to oblanceolate or lanceolate, (24–)60–150 × (10–)20–60 mm, reduced distally, bases subcordate to cuneate; distal sessile or sometimes subsessile (petioles widely-winged), blades lance-ovate to linear-lanceolate or linear, 18–75 × (2–)5–25 mm, bases cuneate, sometimes ± clasping, margins serrulate or entire. |
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Peduncles | 0.6–4 (–6) cm, bracts 2–8, awl-shaped, grading into phyllaries. |
0.2–1.5+ cm, unequal, reduced distally, ± hirsutulous, bracts 0–4, subulate or linear. |
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Involucres | narrowly turbinate, 4.1–9.5(–11) mm. |
campanulate, (4–)5–6.5 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. |
(12–)14–20; corollas pale to deep blue or bluish purple, laminae (8.3–)10–15 × 1–2.3 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. |
14–25(–29); corollas yellow becoming reddish purple, 4.3–6.4 mm, tubes shorter than funnelform throats, lobes narrowly triangular, 0.5–1.1 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 4–5 series, narrowly oblong-lanceolate to oblong-oblanceolate or linear-oblanceolate (innermost), ± unequal, bases indurate 1/3–2/3, margins narrowly scarious, erose, hyaline or infrequently purplish, sparsely ciliolate, green zones lanceolate to linear-lanceolate or linear, apices acuminate to long-acuminate, faces glabrous. |
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Heads | (1–)3–20(–40), in open, diffuse, paniculiform arrays, branches patent. |
[(6–)13–50(–100+)] in open, 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. |
yellowish white, obovoid, compressed, 1–2 mm, 5–6-nerved, faces glabrate to sparsely strigillose; pappi white to pinkish, 3–6 mm. |
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2n | = 48. |
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Symphyotrichum tenuifolium |
Symphyotrichum ciliolatum |
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Phenology | Flowering late Jul–Oct. | |||||
Habitat | Rich, open, often ± calcareous, boreal deciduous forests (aspen or aspen-birch-fir-spruce), edges of woods, clearings, aspen or bur oak thickets, sometimes open pine forests, streambanks, trails, roadsides | |||||
Elevation | 0–2000+ m (0–6600+ 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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IL; MA; ME; MI; MN; MT; ND; NH; NY; SD; VT; WI; WY; AB; BC; MB; NB; NF; NS; NT; ON; QC; SK; YT
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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 ciliolatum sporadically hybridizes with S. laeve var. laeve or var. geyeri in their areas of overlap, notably across the Canadian prairies and in south-central Ontario (Manitoulin Island, Bruce Peninsula). It also hybridizes with S. novi-belgii var. novi-belgii in the Gulf of St. Lawrence area [Symphyotrichum ×subgeminatum (Fernald) G. L. Nesom; syn. Aster subgeminatus (Fernald) B. Boivin]. Aster ciliolatus forma comatus Fernald is densely ciliolate along the midnerves and represents an extreme of the variation found in the species. (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. 502. | ||||
Parent taxa | Asteraceae > tribe Astereae > Symphyotrichum > subg. Astropolium | Asteraceae > tribe Astereae > Symphyotrichum > subg. Symphyotrichum > sect. Symphyotrichum | ||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||
Synonyms | Aster tenuifolius | Aster ciliolatus, Aster ciliolatus var. comatus, Aster lindleyanus, Aster wilsonii | ||||
Name authority | (Linnaeus) G. L. Nesom: Phytologia 77: 293. (1995) | (Lindley) Á. Löve & D. Löve: Taxon 31: 359. (1982) | ||||
Web links |