Symphyotrichum tenuifolium |
Symphyotrichum cusickii |
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perennial saltmarsh American-aster, perennial saltmarsh aster |
Cusick's American aster, Cusick's aster |
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Habit | Perennials, (20–)40–60(–100) cm, colonial or cespitose; rhizoma-tous. | Perennials, 40–100 cm, colonial or cespitose; 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, glabrous or puberulent. |
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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 entire, apices acute, faces glabrous or puberulent; basal often withering by flowering, petiolate, blades broadly elliptic to obovate, 5–200 × 10–35 mm, attenuate or cuneate, margins entire, apices acute; proximalmost cauline sometimes withering by flowering, sessile, blades oblanceolate to obovate, 70–120 × 15–50 mm, bases strongly clasping, enlarged and usually narrowed distally, usually prominently auriculate, margins entire, apices acute; distal sessile, blades lanceolate to broadly elliptic, 30–110 × 10–30 mm, bases truncate or auriculate, margins entire. |
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Peduncles | 0.6–4 (–6) cm, bracts 2–8, awl-shaped, grading into phyllaries. |
sparsely to densely cinereous, bracts lanceolate. |
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Involucres | narrowly turbinate, 4.1–9.5(–11) mm. |
campanulate, 10–20 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. |
25–55; corollas violet, laminae 10–18 × 1–2 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. |
60–150+; corollas yellow, 2.5–4 mm, lobes triangular, 0.4–0.5 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, broadly to narrowly lanceolate or oblanceolate (outer) to linear (inner), ± equal or outer slightly exceeding inner, bases outer foliaceous, inner scarious, margins scarious, entire or erose, green zones elliptic to lanceolate, apices acute, faces glabrous or finely hairy. |
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Heads | (1–)3–20(–40), in open, diffuse, paniculiform arrays, branches patent. |
borne singly or in often congested, paniculiform arrays, branches 20–30 cm. |
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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, 3–3.5 mm, 3–6-nerved, faces hairy; pappi white, 5–9(–11) mm. |
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2n | = 16, 32. |
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Symphyotrichum tenuifolium |
Symphyotrichum cusickii |
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Phenology | Flowering Jul–Aug. | |||||
Habitat | Damp meadows in dry forests, often near springs and streams | |||||
Elevation | 1000–1500 m (3300–4900 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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ID; MT; OR; WA; AB
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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 cusickii occurs principally in north-eastern Oregon, north-central Idaho, and adjacent western Montana. (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. 532. | ||||
Parent taxa | Asteraceae > tribe Astereae > Symphyotrichum > subg. Astropolium | Asteraceae > tribe Astereae > Symphyotrichum > subg. Symphyotrichum > sect. Occidentales | ||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||
Synonyms | Aster tenuifolius | Aster cusickii, Aster foliaceus var. cusickii | ||||
Name authority | (Linnaeus) G. L. Nesom: Phytologia 77: 293. (1995) | (A. Gray) G. L. Nesom: Phytologia 77: 278. (1995) | ||||
Web links |