Symphyotrichum tenuifolium
Symphyotrichum lentum
perennial saltmarsh American-aster, perennial saltmarsh aster
Suisun Marsh aster
1–5+, ascending to erect (often with purple or purplish brown areas, flexuous, wiry), little-branched, usually glabrous, sometimes hairy in lines distally.
1–5, ascending to erect, glabrous.
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;
basal withering by flowering, petiolate, blades linear to narrowly lanceolate, 100–150 × 5–10 mm, attenuate or cuneate, margins entire, apices acute, faces usually glabrous;
proximalmost cauline usually withering by flowering, sessile, blades linear to narrowly lanceolate or oblanceolate, 50–90 × 5–8(–20) mm, bases attenuate or cuneate;
distal sessile, blades 40–80 × 5–8(–15) mm, bases cuneate.
0.6–4 (–6) cm, bracts 2–8, awl-shaped, grading into phyllaries.
glabrous or sparsely villous, bracts 5–15, sessile, lance-linear to lanceolate, margins sometimes spiculate.
narrowly turbinate, 4.1–9.5(–11) mm.
campanulate, 5–8 mm.
10–25;
corollas white or pink, laminae (4.5–)5–8.5(–9.5) × 1.2–2 mm.
20–45+;
corollas violet, laminae 10–18 × 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.
35–70+;
corollas yellow, 5–7 mm, lobes triangular, 0.8–1.5 mm.
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 (outer) to linear (inner), unequal (outer at least 3 times longer than wide), bases (outer) indurate 1/2 or less, margins scarious proximally, eciliate or ciliolate, green zones lanceolate to elliptic, apices acute to acuminate, faces glabrous.
(1–)3–20(–40), in open, diffuse, paniculiform arrays, branches patent.
in paniculiform arrays, branches some at least 25 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, 3–4 mm, 2–4-nerved, faces glabrous or hairy;
pappi white, 5–7 mm.
= 16, 64.
Symphyotrichum tenuifolium
Symphyotrichum lentum
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 lentum is known only from the Sacramento Valley, North Bay County, lower Sacramento River, and San Francisco Bay areas. Probable intergrades with S. chilense have been noted.
of conservation concern
(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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