Symphyotrichum tenuifolium |
Symphyotrichum fendleri |
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perennial saltmarsh American-aster, perennial saltmarsh aster |
Fendler's aster |
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Habit | Perennials, (20–)40–60(–100) cm, colonial or cespitose; rhizoma-tous. | Perennials, 6–30 cm, cespitose; with thick, woody, 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. |
1–10+, decumbent to ascending or erect (grayish brown, slender), sparsely strigoso-hispid, ± scabrous. |
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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. |
(dark bright green) firm, much reduced distally, margins entire, apices acute, mucronate, faces usually glabrous, sometimes sparsely strigoso-hispid; basal withering by flowering (new vernal rosettes often present), sessile, blades (1–3-nerved) linear-oblanceolate, 20–40 × 5–30 mm, bases attenuate, margins scabro-ciliate; proximal cauline sometimes persistent, sessile, blades linear to linear-lanceolate, 10–40 × 5–20 mm, bases sometimes subclasping, margins entire, scabrous; distal sessile, blades linear to linear-lanceolate, 20–40 × 2–3 mm, bases cuneate, margins entire, coarsely cililate-spinulose, apices acute, white-spinulose, faces sometimes stipitate-glandular. |
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Peduncles | 0.6–4 (–6) cm, bracts 2–8, awl-shaped, grading into phyllaries. |
sparsely hispido-strigose, ± densely stipitate-glandular, bracts ± ascending, linear to lance-oblong, grading into phyllaries. |
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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. |
10–20; corollas light to dark lavender to purple, laminae 5–10 × 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. |
(7–)10–30; corollas yellow becoming reddish purple, 3.5–5 mm, throats narrowly funnelform, lobes narrowly triangular, 0.4–0.7 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 3–4 series, lanceolate, unequal, bases ± indurate, margins narrowly to widely scarious, hyaline except apically, sometimes ciliolate, often stipitate-glandular, green zones lanceolate to diamond-shaped, covering distal portion (outer), apices acuminate, spreading to reflexed, faces glabrous, moderately to densely short-stipitate-glandular. |
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Heads | (1–)3–20(–40), in open, diffuse, paniculiform arrays, branches patent. |
in ± narrowly racemiform to paniculiform arrays, branches sometimes initially patent, then spreading to 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 (nerves stramineous), obovoid, ± compressed, 1.5–2.5 mm, 7–10-nerved, faces moderately strigillose; pappi cinnamon to sordid, sometimes purplish-tinged, 4.5–5 mm. |
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2n | = 10. |
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Symphyotrichum tenuifolium |
Symphyotrichum fendleri |
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Phenology | Flowering (Aug–)Sep–Oct. | |||||
Habitat | Open, sandy, silty, shaly, often rocky soils, eroded limestone or sandstone outcrops, mixed-grass prairies, pastures, roadsides | |||||
Elevation | 600–2000 m (2000–6600 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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CO; KS; NE; NM; OK; 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 fendleri has been reported from Mexico (Chihuahua) [by C. H. Schultz-Bipontinus (1856) fide G. L. Nesom (pers. comm.)], but its occurrence in Mexico remains to be confirmed. (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. 486. | ||||
Parent taxa | Asteraceae > tribe Astereae > Symphyotrichum > subg. Astropolium | Asteraceae > tribe Astereae > Symphyotrichum > subg. Virgulus | ||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||
Synonyms | Aster tenuifolius | Aster fendleri, Virgulus fendleri | ||||
Name authority | (Linnaeus) G. L. Nesom: Phytologia 77: 293. (1995) | (A. Gray) G. L. Nesom: Phytologia 77: 282. (1995) | ||||
Web links |