Symphyotrichum tenuifolium |
Symphyotrichum eulae |
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perennial saltmarsh American-aster, perennial saltmarsh aster |
Eula's aster, Texas aster |
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Habit | Perennials, (20–)40–60(–100) cm, colonial or cespitose; rhizoma-tous. | Perennials, 5–150 cm, colonial; long-rhizomatous (rhizomes thick). | ||||
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, stout), glabrous. |
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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. |
firm, margins serrulate to serrate, distally entire, ± revolute, scabrous, apices mucronate, abaxial faces glabrous or glabrate, adaxial scabrous, cauline often with axillary tufts of leaves; basal withering by flowering, petiolate (petioles slightly winged, ciliate, sheathing), blades ovate or elliptic to elliptic-lanceolate, 15–120 × 15–35 mm, bases gradually to ± abruptly attenuate, margins crenate-serrate, apices obtuse to acute; proximal cauline withering by flowering, petiolate to subpetiolate (clasping), blades elliptic to lanceolate, 85–100 × 18–30 mm, bases cuneate to slightly attenuate, apices acute to acuminate; distal sessile, blades elliptic or elliptic-lanceolate to lanceolate, or lance-oblong to linear-lanceolate (arrays), 8–90 × 1–25 mm, progressively reduced distally, abruptly so in arrays, bases cuneate, margins entire, apices acute to acuminate. |
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Peduncles | 0.6–4 (–6) cm, bracts 2–8, awl-shaped, grading into phyllaries. |
0.4–3 cm, secund, glabrous, bracts 5–10, not crowded, linear to linear-lanceolate, spreading, foliaceous, grading into phyllaries. |
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Involucres | narrowly turbinate, 4.1–9.5(–11) mm. |
hemispheric, (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. |
(20–)27–36; corollas usually white to bluish or lavender-white, rarely pale lavender or lavender-pink, laminae 8–11 × 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. |
25–31; corollas yellow turning reddish then brown, (4.1–)4.5–5.8 mm, tubes shorter than funnelform throats, lobes recurved to erect, lanceolate, 1.1–1.3 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 5–6 series, lanceolate to oblong-lanceolate (some inner linear), unequal, bases indurate 1/3–2/3, margins scarious, erose, hyaline, sparsely ciliolate, green zones lanceolate, prominent, apices acute (acuminate), slightly spreading, faces glabrous. |
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Heads | (1–)3–20(–40), in open, diffuse, paniculiform arrays, branches patent. |
in leafy, open, paniculiform arrays, branches ascending to divaricate, nearly horizontal, elongate (to 38 cm), secund-racemiform. |
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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. |
tan to reddish brown, obovoid to fusiform-obovoid, ± compressed, 1.4–2.9 mm, 4–5-nerved, faces strigillose; pappi white (sordid), 4.5–5.8 mm. |
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2n | = 48. |
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Symphyotrichum tenuifolium |
Symphyotrichum eulae |
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Phenology | Flowering Oct. | |||||
Habitat | Usually partly shaded, heavy-clayey, clayey-loamy, or silty soils, banks, open stream-bottom woods, ditches, drainage systems, disturbed areas, hedgerows | |||||
Elevation | 0–100 m (0–300 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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TX |
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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 eulae is known only from Texas. It has been reported as a hybrid of S. lanceolatum and S. praealtum. It is not a hybrid, according to Shinners, and we are not considering it as such here. (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. 516. | ||||
Parent taxa | Asteraceae > tribe Astereae > Symphyotrichum > subg. Astropolium | Asteraceae > tribe Astereae > Symphyotrichum > subg. Symphyotrichum > sect. Symphyotrichum | ||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||
Synonyms | Aster tenuifolius | Aster eulae | ||||
Name authority | (Linnaeus) G. L. Nesom: Phytologia 77: 293. (1995) | (Shinners) G. L. Nesom: Phytologia 77: 281. (1995) | ||||
Web links |