Symphyotrichum tenuifolium
Symphyotrichum hallii
perennial saltmarsh American-aster, perennial saltmarsh aster
Hall's aster
1–5+, ascending to erect (often with purple or purplish brown areas, flexuous, wiry), little-branched, usually glabrous, sometimes hairy in lines distally.
1–6, ascending to erect, glabrous or puberulent, especially distally.
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 scabridulous;
basal withering by flowering, petiolate, blades narrowly oblanceolate to linear, 10–60 × 2–10 mm, attenuate, margins entire;
proximalmost cauline sometimes withering by flowering, sessile, blades linear to narrowly oblanceolate, 30–80 × 2–8 mm, bases cuneate, apices acute;
distal sessile, blades linear, 10–50 × 2–8 mm, bases ± cuneate, truncate.
0.6–4 (–6) cm, bracts 2–8, awl-shaped, grading into phyllaries.
sparsely to densely hairy, bracts 3–10, linear to narrowly elliptic, much smaller than distal leaves.
narrowly turbinate, 4.1–9.5(–11) mm.
campanulate, 4–7 mm.
10–25;
corollas white or pink, laminae (4.5–)5–8.5(–9.5) × 1.2–2 mm.
14–35;
corollas usually white, sometimes pale violet, laminae 7–12 × 1–2 mm.
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.
20–35;
corollas yellow, 4.5–6.5 mm, lobes triangular, 0.7–1 mm, glabrous.
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, appressed, narrowly oblanceolate (outer) to linear (inner), unequal, bases (outer) herbaceous or scarious less than 1/2, margins entire, green zones ovate to linear (inner), apices obtuse, faces glabrous.
(1–)3–20(–40), in open, diffuse, paniculiform arrays, branches patent.
in racemiforn to paniculiform arrays, branches usually less than 10(–20) cm.
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, 2–2.5 mm, 2–5-nerved, faces hairy;
pappi white, 5–7 mm.
= 16, 32, 48.
Symphyotrichum tenuifolium
Symphyotrichum hallii
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 hallii is restricted to open habitats of the Puget Trough of western Washington and the Willamette Valley of western Oregon, with outlying stations in the Columbia Gorge and central Washington. Some of the polyploid races appear to be alloploids involving the sympatric S. subspicatum, with larger leaves and fewer, larger heads with violet rays.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
1. Stems 1, rhizomes long; mid leaves (1.5–)3–6 mm wide; involucres 6–9.5(–11) mm; ray florets (12–)17–25; disc florets 25–45(–54), corollas (4–)4.7–6(–6.5) mm; cypselae 2.8–4(–4.5) mm; pappi 5–6.1 mm | var. tenuifolium |
1. Stems 1–5+ (clustered), rhizomes short; mid leaves (1–)1.5–2.7 mm wide; involucres 4.1–5.3 mm; ray florets 10–16; disc florets (10–)13–23, corollas 3.4–4.6 mm; cypselae 1.5–2(–2.5) mm; pappi 3–4.4 mm | var. aphyllum |
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