Symphyotrichum tenuifolium |
Symphyotrichum phlogifolium |
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perennial saltmarsh American-aster, perennial saltmarsh aster |
thin-leaf late purple aster |
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Habit | Perennials, (20–)40–60(–100) cm, colonial or cespitose; rhizoma-tous. | Perennials, 50–130 cm, cespitose; with short, thick, woody caudices, not 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, erect to arching, light to dark brown, soft-hairy, hairs ascending- to spreading- stipitate-glandular distally. |
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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 green) thin, almost membraneous; basal early deciduous, sessile or subpetiolate, blades spatulate to obovate, 80–140 × 20–30 mm, bases cuneate, margins entire to ± serrate, scabrous, apices acute; proximal cauline withering by flowering, sessile, blades panduriform, (20–)30–70(–110) × 10–30(–35) mm, bases auriculate-clasping, margins entire (flat), sparsely villoso-ciliate, apices acute, faces finely sparely villous or scabrous, stipitate-glandular; distal sessile, blades (rugose-veined when fresh) ovate to lanceolate, 75–125(–140) × 15–35(–40) mm, bases strongly cordate-clasping to auriculate-amplexicaul, margins entire (± undulate), apices acute, acuminate to merely mucronate, faces sparsely strigose, moderately so along veins, sparsely to moderately stipitate-glandular. |
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Peduncles | 0.6–4 (–6) cm, bracts 2–8, awl-shaped, grading into phyllaries. |
short (less than 4 cm), strigose, stipitate-glandular, bracts linear-lanceolate, ascending-appressed, grading into phyllaries. |
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Involucres | narrowly turbinate, 4.1–9.5(–11) mm. |
cylindric, 5.5–7.5(–8) 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. |
9–17; corollas light to dark reddish purple, laminae 10–18(–20) × 1–3 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. |
15–35; corollas white with purple lobes, 6–8 mm, lobes triangular, 1–1.5 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 4–6 series, linear-lanceolate, unequal, bases (tan) ± indurate in proximal 1/3–1/2, margins hyaline, erose, distally scabro-ciliolate to ciliolate, green zones covering distal 1/2, apices outer obtuse to acute, inner acuminate, purplish, faces sparsely strigillose, usually moderately to densely stipitate-glandular, rarely sparsely so. |
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Heads | (1–)3–20(–40), in open, diffuse, paniculiform arrays, branches patent. |
in crowded, paniculiform arrays, branches often initially patent then 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. |
dark brown to black, obovoid, not compressed, 2.5–4 mm, 7–10-nerved, faces densely strigose along ribs; pappi tan to tawny, sometimes slightly purplish-tinged, 6–8 mm. |
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2n | = 20. |
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Symphyotrichum tenuifolium |
Symphyotrichum phlogifolium |
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Phenology | Flowering Aug–Oct. | |||||
Habitat | Loamy, sandy, or gravelly soils, rich mesic mixed-hardwood forests (Appalachians), roadsides | |||||
Elevation | 0–1100 m (0–3600 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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AL; CT; DC; DE; GA; IN; KY; MA; MD; NC; NY; OH; PA; RI; SC; TN; VA; WV
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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.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 20, p. 479. | FNA vol. 20, p. 490. | ||||
Parent taxa | Asteraceae > tribe Astereae > Symphyotrichum > subg. Astropolium | Asteraceae > tribe Astereae > Symphyotrichum > subg. Virgulus | ||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||
Synonyms | Aster tenuifolius | Aster phlogifolius, Aster patens var. phlogifolius, Virgulus patens var. phlogifolius | ||||
Name authority | (Linnaeus) G. L. Nesom: Phytologia 77: 293. (1995) | (Muhlenberg ex Willdenow) G. L. Nesom: Phytologia 77: 289. (1995) | ||||
Web links |